Two hundred and five double rooms are unavailable to students
living on campus this year as Courtside, a part of Sunset Village,
undergoes a $6.5 million renovation for water damages and cosmetic
improvements.
The project began in August and is projected to continue until
June of next year, Angela Marciano, the associate director of
organizational planning performance and development for Housing,
said.
Courtside dorms have had water intrusion issues since 1994 that
were “pretty major,” Marciano said. As a temporary fix
to problems caused by rain water leaking into rooms, housing
reinforced the caulking around windows, patched the roof, and did
some replastering. Housing officials had to wait until De Neve was
finished to start the renovation in order to relieve some of the
strain from the beds lost.
Marciano said the renovation was necessary because the
construction of courtside “wasn’t done correctly the
first time.”
Water intrusion occurred as early as 1992, as soon as the
Housing office took occupancy of the building from the general
contractor, Hensel Phelps. Housing officials attribute the problems
to poor workmanship during construction and entered mediation as
soon as water intrusion was noticed. They are now being financially
compensated for the renovation as a result of the mediation.
Hensel Phelps could not be reached for a comment Monday
afternoon.
The current construction management group in charge of Courtside
renovations is PCM, which went through a selection process as
opposed to a bid process to get the job, Marciano said.
Permanent repairs include re-plastering the building’s
exterior, re-roofing, and replacing the windows. In addition to
these necessary changes, Housing will take this opportunity to
recarpet, repaint, refurbish rooms and lounges, install electronic
card key door locks, replace bathroom fixtures, and enhance the
entry ways and ventilation in the corridors.
Marciano said that a big gain in this project will be that
“the internal courtyard will be relandscaped to be more
program friendly.” Trees and lawns will still be in place,
but the courtyard will also be able to provide spaces for student
programs.
Currently the scaffolding is up and the building is shielded in
order to keep noise and dust away from surrounding residents. The
next step will be to remove the old plaster, or skin, from the
building’s surface.
“Construction is always a challenge,” Marciano said,
adding that losing the beds in Courtside was the biggest problem
because the gains from De Neve were smaller. More triple rooms were
created to account for this shortage.
A mitigation committee, headed by Rob Kadota, an area resident
manager for the Office for Residential Life, has been formed to
educate students about the renovation. Staff from Housing and the
Office for Residential Life, a professor and the project manager
from PMC also sit on the committee that meets once a week. Students
can call a hotline or go to the weekly dining and environment
meetings held in each resident hall to voice their complaints or
concerns.
So far the committee has not heard one complaint, but Marciano
expects that most of them will come from Sunset Village
residents.
Marciano said eventually the Courtside renovation will help with
the overcrowding by providing 500 more beds for residents.