Ohio University is expecting a bid decision on the Shively Hall renovation project Monday at below the projected cost.
Shively Hall, an East Green dorm and dining hall, is closed for the 2008-2009 school year while it is being renovated and remodeled. OU's Department of Implementation took bids on the project Aug. 28.
Director of Implementation Richard Shultz said that the university received numerous bids, all within budget. The university will make a decision on the bidder Monday.
The university estimated price of the project would be $9.5 million, but the bids received are below that number.
Right now the estimates are all around $8.9 million
Shultz said.
The project will be completed in phases, Shultz said. The residence hall area will be finished by August 2009, and the dining hall will be complete in January 2010.
Shively's closure will not create a housing crunch this year, according to the Department of Housing. The department reports that there are 7,899 beds available for students in dorms. As of Sept. 2, there were 7,727 housing contracts, 98 percent of the available dorm capacity.
We're just fine said Director of Housing Bev Wyatt.
Wyatt said, however, that the department anticipates a housing crunch in 2011 when Jefferson Hall goes offline for construction and renovation. Jefferson Hall has 307 bed spaces and a dining hall.
The Department of Housing worked with Student Affairs and the Dean of Students office to create a policy addressing potential space constraints in June 2007.
Under the policy, the department will have to cut the number of people who are given rooms, with academic juniors and seniors marked as the first group to see cuts. Tightening age requirements for dorm occupants and converting some of the rooms in Bromley Hall to triple-occupancy from their current double-occupancy formats are also among possible changes.-
Right now we pretty much let anyone have a dorm room Wyatt said, We'll ask students next year how many of them will be staying on campus in 2010-2011. We'll grant as many students as we think we can hold
and the rest will be put on a waiting list.
The closing of Shively's dining hall has created congestion in other dining halls on campus as well.
We've had a lot of traffic
a lot of freshmen coming through the dining hall
said Nelson Dining Hall manager Jeff DeLong, We're the biggest and busiest dining hall anyway
and it's a little overwhelming sometimes
but we're working through it.
The Shively project is part of a long-term plan drafted by the university in 2006 that set the schedule for future renovations. The plan made a commitment to the renovation of East Green dorms first, as they are the oldest dorms aside from those on the College Green, such as Voigt Hall and other former dorms, like Lindley Hall. The university completed renovation projects on Gamertsfelder and Lincoln halls during the '07-'08 school year.
tn336706@ohiou.edu
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