The new residence hall being constructed on E.N. 16th St. will cost an estimated $31 million and house incoming freshman women for the 2021-22 academic school year.

After the completed demolition and reconstruction of Gardner Hall, the new residence hall will house both freshman men and women.

“The long-term goal, two or three years, would be that this facility and another one we’ll be working on will both house males and females under the same roof,” Kevin Campbell, senior vice president for operations, said. “We have designed the facilities where males and females will live under the same roof but with restricted access. The east side may be female and the west may be male.”

The new residence hall is the first of many projects planned for Residence Life. Along with the Gardner demolition, Sikes and Nelson Halls will be renovated in a plan to house all freshmen on one side of campus.

Some of the features of the new residence hall include large lobby spaces and study rooms on each floor.

“The thing we’re most excited about is it has community space all throughout the facility,” Campbell said. “It’s aesthetically going to be a beautiful facility.”

Shannon Kaczmarek, director of residence life, is pleased to see the university taking extra steps to improve student living on campus.

“Seeing this become a priority to the university is just such a wonderful thing,” Kaczmarek said. “I think we need it, and I think that our campus is really needing to have some greater amounts of attention on where our students live.”