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New UA residence hall nearing completion East Exchange Street building will have all comforts of home when it opens for fall semester
By Carol Biliczky
Beacon Journal staff writer
Ross Johnson of Dover had heard the talk.
Cable and Internet access.
Air conditioning.
A volleyball court.
So Johnson, a University of Akron senior majoring in accounting, knew exactly where he wanted to live come fall — the Exchange Street Residence Hall on the south side of campus.
“I haven’t had a chance to get a tour yet, but it sounds awesome,” he said.
UA’s newest building is 95 percent complete and timed to be ready for — or even ahead of — the start of fall semester in August.
It is the university’s newest residence hall since the popular honors dorm opened three years ago.
John Messina, UA’s director of residence life and housing, said via e-mail the honors dorm has filled every year since it opened. The hall is specifically for students with high grades in the selective honors program.
So it was no surprise that UA got more applications than it could handle for the $33 million, brick-and-stone hall on Exchange Street.
The 88 two- and four-bedroom apartments were especially popular. While the apartments are smaller than commercial ones off campus, they include furniture and appliances. All utilities are included in the cost. Twenty-four students were turned away for this fall and placed in other housing.
The dorm also offers 134 “shared singles,” or two single rooms that share one bathroom, plus eight single rooms with individual bathrooms for hall staff.
Then there’s a computer lab, study lounges and retail stores on the ground floor that include Dairy Queen, Eddy’s Bike Shop and the university-owned and-operated Exchange Street Pier, which will offer curtains, comforters and the like to finish off the rooms.
The university is banking on the trend that parents want their offspring to have the best, even if it does cost a tad more — $7,176 a year for an apartment (that’s about $700 a month, per student) or $6,868 for a shared suite.
Ted Curtis, UA’s vice president for capital planning and facilities management, said that means privacy in modern buildings with amenities and extra security measures to soothe anxious parents. At Exchange Street, for example, the university can lock down the dorm to prevent anyone from entering in a crisis, although students still could exit.
In fact, modern and safe residence halls are a key to attracting students, said Alma Sealine, director of housing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and the Central District representative to the Association of College and University Housing Officers.
With academics and financial aid, “it does become a factor,” she said. “If you can live at a fresh, new residence hall at one campus and an old one at another campus, it may sway the decision, especially in an urban area.”
Largest residence hall
At UA, the Exchange Street dorm might be the most inviting of the 15 dorms on campus.
At 195,000 square feet, it will be the largest residence hall at UA, its five stories looming over East Exchange Street, an open archway leading to picnic tables, gardens, a volleyball court and parking lot.
The suites will include stackable washers and dryers, individual bedrooms for each student, cable TV hookups, all kitchen appliances — including a microwave and dishwasher, and high-speed Internet access. Small living rooms will include a sofa, chair and coffee table, plus floor-to-ceiling windows in some units that on higher floors offer expansive views of the city.
The shared-single rooms will include single bedrooms for two students, a shared bathroom and a shared entryway that’s big enough to accommodate a couch, storage or bicycles.
The interior designer for the project, Julia Schumacher of Bath Township, tried not to jam too much into the rooms. She selected furniture that can be moved around including wardrobes — not built-in closets — for maximum flexibility.
She also enlisted students’ opinions in mapping out color schemes. Bold shades of salmon, aqua, deep burgundy or gold splash one wall in the living room of each suite and are teamed with softer shades of sand and off-white elsewhere.
Kitchen is a plus
For Cassandra Dohar of Canfield, a key attraction was the kitchen. The sophomore political science major doesn’t cook, but wants to learn so she can steer away from the fried foods that dominate so many students’ diets.
“There’s a lot more there than what the other dorms have to offer,” Dohar said.
As for Johnson, the accounting major from Dover, he has been hearing all of this for more than a year as a student assistant for Messina, the housing director.
Johnson and friend Chris Burke, a senior majoring in electrical engineering technology from Brunswick, already have selected their unit — a fifth-floor apartment on Exchange Street with expansive views of campus.
“It’s more of an adult space,” Burke said. “It’s going to be better than living in a regular residence and sharing a room and using a community bathroom.”
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