Regents OK three SDSU residence halls Brookings Register April 5, 2009 By: Amanda Palluck South Dakota State University approved architects will soon be hard at work on bid documents for a trio of residence halls. In a little more than a year, the new buildings will house more than 400 students in the heart of the Brookings campus. SDSU is able to move the project forward with approval from the South Dakota Board of Regents at its April 2-3 meeting in Aberdeen. According to Marysz Rames, SDSU vice president for student affairs, Regents had to approve both the building projects and the ability of organizers to charge new, higher student rent rates for living in the new halls. Phase one of a five-year plan for increasing residence halls and dining service on campus involves the construction of three new residence halls on the south side of campus. The halls will be built for traditional undergraduate students, set in a triangular pattern among Mathews, Grove and Brown halls, behind the campus Rotunda. Rames said the next step in the project is for SDSU-hired architects to start drawing up bids documents. The finished documents will have to be approved by SDSU's Physical Plant and the South Dakota Office of the State Engineer before they are released to the public for bids. Phase one of this $22 million plan is slated to open in fall 2010, and according to Rames, the planning group hopes to create a village concept with the three new buildings. Students who live in the new buildings, with extra amenities, will choose to pay a little bit more for their stay at the university. Students currently pay about $1,400 per semester to live in the already existing residence halls on campus . Rames said rent on the new buildings will cost closer to $2,000 per semester. Each new hall will have its own look and feel, with different color schemes. The housing will feature a boardinghouse style of living, with about 32 students per floor, no more than two students per room and shared living areas, kitchenettes and laundry facilities. Rames said unique features in the new halls will include fireplaces, sliding glass doors, a patio area, smaller living communities per floor and bathrooms with built-in vanity features for each student. Future ideas in the five-year plan include residence hall additions for upperclassmen and graduate students on the northwest corner of campus, she added. "We were hoping for approval," said Rames of the Regents' decision earlier this week. "All indication was that documents were in good order, and obviously we felt very confident, but we also needed the opportunity to visit with the Regents. We felt good about information we gave, and we're looking forward to getting the project under way. "We are all very excited. We've really felt like these projects are a key to provide students with the kinds of residence life and dining services they are interested in, to better meet their needs. When students come to SDSU, our hope is that these kinds of facilities will enhance their ability to connect, improve retention rates and keep them here until they graduate." Contact Amanda Palluck at apalluck@brookingsregister .com.