University officials said construction on the residential Hill
will not be completed by 2010, which was when they had planned to
be able to offer four years of guaranteed housing to all
students.
Sproul Hall, which closed for renovations in summer 2006, is
scheduled to reopen in summer 2008, and the other three high-rise
residential halls are expected to close for 16 to 18 months at a
time while they are renovated over the next several years.
Construction in Sproul should be complete by spring 2008, but
the building will not be utilized until summer so there is time to
test equipment and move in furniture, said Assistant Vice
Chancellor of Housing & Hospitality Services Michael
Foraker.
The increasing demand for on-campus housing and renovations on
the high-rise buildings will continue to impact the availability of
housing options for Hill residents, he said.
Housing Services had planned to expand the current housing
guarantee for incoming freshmen from three years to four years and
from one year to two years for transfer students by 2010, but
Foraker said that may take longer than previously announced.
“I’m not confident that we will be able to do it by
2010,” Foraker said.
He said he believes the university will need 2,500 more beds in
order to fully implement the range of housing guarantees to
students, since more students are choosing to continue to live on
campus.
“Students are perceiving the good value and quality of
life (from living on campus). … If the trend continues, we could
easily require more space,” Foraker said.
After work on Sproul is complete, Rieber Hall will be closed for
the 2008-2009 school year and Hedrick and Dykstra halls will
follow. Foraker predicted construction for each residence hall will
take 16 to 18 months to complete.
He added that renovations include major upgrades to the
infrastructure of the building, including a new heating system,
carpet, plumbing and remodeling the community bathrooms. Similar
improvements are expected for the other high-rise buildings.
According to Daily Bruin archives, Dykstra Hall was initially
next in line to be closed.
Foraker said the order of the construction was changed because
of Dykstra’s unique infrastructure.
“We need to renovate the first floor before we get a
general contractor,” he said. Currently, the only entrance to
Dykstra is through De Neve Plaza.
Sproul reconstruction is a $26 million project. Foraker said
officials financed construction in the short term with equity from
the buildings and debt financing and expect to recoup the cost in
the long term through housing fees.
Construction costs for the other buildings have not yet been
determined because contractors have not been hired.
The closing of Sproul Hall this year meant that about 824 spaces
had to be redistributed throughout the Hill. But Foraker said the
start of construction was deferred until Rieber Terrace, Rieber
Vista and Hedrick Summit were operational, which added 2,000 beds
in the last three years.
Despite the additional spaces, the Hill was at full occupancy
this year. This year, 96 percent of the unusually large freshman
class chose to live on the Hill, while typically between 90 and 92
percent do.
Today is the deadline to submit an application for 2007-2008
on-campus housing, which Housing Services will use to assess how
many returning students will live on campus next year.
“It does not happen every year,” said Lauren
Bartlett, UCLA spokeswoman, referring to the high occupancy.
Foraker said incoming first years should anticipate being
assigned to triple-occupancy rooms, similar to the trend this fall,
but that upperclassmen are now more likely to get their
first-choice room assignment.
But Mai Nguyen, a second-year sociology and political science
student, is a Dykstra resident and said she believes moving off
campus is a natural transition for older students.
“By third year, people outgrow dorm life,” she said.
“They want a place of their own. … You can’t call a
dorm your own.”
Nguyen said the high occupancy on the Hill this year influenced
her decision not to return.
“I just want to be away from the freshmen,” she
said.
But Foraker said he has heard from some former students that
they have fond memories of life on the Hill, including parents
whose children now reside in the same residence halls.
“It will be very nice to say we were able to find a way to
renovate these wonderful buildings and have them last 25 or 30 more
years,” Foraker said.