New North Central College residence hall to feature apartment-style suites

A new residence hall on North Central College’s 65-acre campus will offer desirable suite-style housing for upperclassmen.

The 229-bed residence hall is being built directly south of Ward and Patterson halls and across from Merner Field House and Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium. The five-story residence hall—the College’s first since the Residence Hall/Recreation Center opened in 2009—is scheduled for completion by August 2015.

The building will replace beds lost when the 58-bed Student Village residence hall is demolished to make way for a new science center along Loomis Street. Additionally, plans are being made to accommodate residents of the 43-bed Peter and Paul Hall.

The five-story residence hall is an ideal use of the site to accommodate other students who want to live on campus, says Mike Hudson, assistant vice president for business operations. The topography of the site means the building will be shrouded by old-growth trees and existing buildings and mostly hidden from Chicago Avenue and surrounding areas.

“It’s exciting to keep more of our student population on campus,” Hudson says. “This style of housing is designed to encourage students to take advantage of on-campus living opportunities.”

The new hall will accommodate students in apartment-style suites, says Sarah Avery, director of residence life.

“When we polled students to see what type of housing they would like to see, 90 percent said they were interested in apartment-style, suite-style or singles. This building caters to students interested in all three styles,” Avery says.

Designers also added common-area lounge space, a central computer lab and laundry facilities on each floor, in response to the poll of students, Avery adds.

The additional beds also will enable the College some flexibility to perform needed remodeling of other residence halls.

The existing pond—which also serves stormwater retention functions—will be expanded to accommodate runoff from the site of the new residence hall. The existing retaining walls along the north and south sides of the pond also will be rebuilt.

Crews have been working to relocate water and electric utilities that run through the site in preparation for the new building, with work on the 101,101-square-foot building itself expected to begin soon.

Progress on the project may be tracked via a webcam aimed at the site during construction.

Project manager for the new residence hall is Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty, LLC. General contractor is Chicago-based Bulley & Andrews. The new building is designed by Joliet-based Buchar, Mitchell, Bajt Architects, Inc. Civil engineer is Aurora-based Cemcon Ltd. Structural engineer is Naperville-based Larson Engineering. Mechanical, engineering and plumbing is by Burr Ridge-based Ketchmark & Associates. Naperville-based Dukane Precast Inc., which supplied concrete panels used in construction of the College’s Residence Hall/Recreation Center, will supply materials for the new residence hall. Landscape architect is Napeville-based Hitchcock Design Group. The building’s technology is designed by Naperville-based Advanced Data Technologies.