Just last year, the parking lot by the Ledges was a visitor’s lot. Now it is the location of the Quinnipiac’s newest dormitory.
The Hamden Planning and Zoning commission approved this dorm last June.
“There aren’t to many spots on campus to build on,” said Keith Woodward, associate director of facilities. “The Ledges Parking lot seemed like a logical place to build. Since it was already a parking lot, the area was already flat. It is a good spot.”
John Morgan, director of public relations, stated that President Lahey has taken all steps to assure that neighborhood concerns about the new dorm have been modified.
Morgan said, “The new resident hall is being designed to keep noise in a nearby courtyard and away from the neighbors. Quinnipiac will build retaining walls behind the resident hall to reduce noise and preserve the woodland area near Hogan Road.”
The total cost of the dorm will be $20 million. This includes architects, engineers, and all other people involved in producing the total project.
The new dorm will be four stories high and consist of over 384 suite style rooms. These rooms will consist of four bedrooms, a living room, a storage space and a bathroom. The bathrooms in the dorm will contain two sinks, two showers and two toilets. Throughout the building, there will be 19 different sized opened lounges, four kitchens, and vending machines. The hallway that faces the Quad will also be made of all glass.
To get a complete mental picture of the dorm, it will have the building structure that of the Ledges and Commons, but the rooms are like that of Larson, Perlroth, and Troup.
The hallways in the new building will be carpeted and each level will be painted a different color.
“The dorm is designed to set up a neighborhood atmosphere. This is the reasoning behind the different layers of color,” said Woodward.
The resident hall will house juniors and sophomores. Since the scheduled date for completion is in August, the dorm will be part of this semester’s lottery.