Strong and Melrose residence halls will be closed by June 2004 as a part of UT’s 10-year plan to upgrade the university’s residence halls to modern standards of living.
The university housing office’s plan includes both renovations and hall closings.
As part of the plan, Strong and Melrose halls will no longer be used for housing. The halls will not be torn down, but rather will be given to the university to be used for other purposes besides housing.
“Strong and Melrose will be converted into classrooms or studio space,” said Tim Johnson, associate director of university housing.
The forfeited housing space is not as much of a loss as one might initially believe.
“We lost spaces in Melrose this year to the honors program,” said Mike West, director of facilities for university housing. “Currently, the university has a capacity of 7,200 bed spaces but an occupancy of 6,300.
“These are two facilities that are extremely old, and it would cost more to bring them up to modern standards of living than to give them up for the university to make other uses out of,” West said. “From a business prospective, it was not a good decision to renovate the two, because we may not need 7,200 spaces anyway.”
Renovations to other university housing is already underway.
“In the first year of the program, we currently have $10 million worth of projects going on,” West said.
“Scheduled improvements include fire alarm upgrades, elevator renovations, roof replacements, window replacements, sprinkler systems and air conditioning upgrades.”
Andy Holt resident Mindy Floyd said she is glad improvements are being made to on-campus housing.
“It’s gonna be nice when they’re finished,” said Floyd, a junior in retail and consumer sciences. “They’re fixing the elevators now. It’s an inconvenience at the moment, but it’ll get better. Compared to when my dad lived here, it’s a big improvement.”
Returning Andy Holt residents noticed the changes made to the apartments over the summer, including new furniture and paint.
Floyd admits, however, that there is still room for improvement – at least in her apartment.
“Some of the appliances don’t work,” she said. “The temperature gauge on the stove is broken. It looks like it came from the ’60s.”
