Projects to upgrade residence halls continue

The Board of Regents has approved a project for Mary Markley Hall that will continue the work laid out in a comprehensive plan to upgrade residence halls across campus.

The $9.4 million construction project for the Hill area residence, authorized by the board Sept. 22, will include fire protection enhancements and electrical and information technology (IT) upgrades.

Markley will be the 11th residence hall to have fire alarm systems upgraded and the sixth to have fire suppression (sprinkler) systems installed, following South Quad, Fletcher, West Quad, Bursley and Oxford Housing. The updates are among many outlined in the Residential Life Initiatives (RLI), a long-range plan for improving facilities to enhance student life and learning in on-campus housing. Sprinkler installation in all traditional halls is expected to be complete by 2011.

Sprinklers will be an additional life safety component, along with the Markley fire alarm system that was upgraded in 2004. IT improvements will include installation of new wiring and high-speed network equipment. The project is to be completed in phases in order to minimize disruption to the 1,180 residents. The U-M Department of Architecture, Engineering and Construction is designing the project. Markley is a 298,000-gross-square-foot hall built in 1959.

Another RLI project under way this year is a major renovation of Mosher-Jordan Hall (MoJo), which has been taken off line as a student housing facility until fall 2008. MoJo is the first residence hall to undergo major upgrades to its plumbing, elevators, heating, ventilation, fire detection and suppression systems. The project includes renovated bath facilities, the addition of air conditioning and accessibility improvements. The hall is getting wired and wireless high-speed network access. The MoJo renovation, approved by the board a year ago, also calls for the building of new community learning spaces.

Construction also is under way for the new Hill Dining Center, which will be built into the hillside above Palmer Field and connected to Mosher-Jordan. It will replace the Alice Lloyd, Couzens, Mosher-Jordan and Stockwell dining rooms when it opens at the start of the 2008 fall term. The center will feature a 700-seat marketplace dining room and a 70-seat café, offering a variety of fresh, convenient foods at hours that better fit students' active lifestyles. Construction costs for the two projects are estimated at $65.1 million.

"We are very excited to finally move from years of planning to major projects under construction," says Carole Henry, assistant vice president for student affairs and director, University Housing. "Our student-residents are living in increasingly safer environments as a result of our life safety enhancements, and beginning in fall 2008, the campus will see the emergence of 21st-century residential facilities with the reopening of Mosher-Jordan and the new Hill Dining Center."

All of the improvements are in keeping with feedback gathered from students and peer institutions during the RLI planning phase. The overall goal of the initiative is to upgrade facilities to better incorporate living with learning, and to meet the residential needs of current and future students.

Plans for a new facility that combines a residence hall with an academic center have moved forward as well with board approval of a plan to raze the Frieze Building to make way for the North Quad Residential and Academic Complex (see related story on page 4).

Evidence of other RLI progress is the Blue Apple, a coffeehouse-style food emporium in Bursley Hall on North Campus that opened this fall. The first of its kind at U-M, the emporium offers food prepared on site, including pizza and deli-style salads and sandwiches. A small grocery features self-serve hot and cold beverages; dairy products, such as packed ice cream and yogurt; premade salads; frozen meals; and other grab-and-go options. Personal and household items are sold in a small retail outlet. Later this fall, busy students will be able to call in or go online to order food items for carry out.

Another project recently completed is the North Pointe convenience store in the Northwood III undergraduate apartment area on North Campus, the first retail dining location established to serve students living in the on-campus apartment community.

The RLI calls for the upgrade of a number of other residential dining facilities to meet the needs of students who want more food choices and longer hours.

For more information on the RLI, go to www.housing.umich.edu/rli/.

More Stories

• U starts Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute
• Voices members seek answers on M-CARE sale
• Regents approve sale of M-CARE
• New eight-story tower will open in 2010 adjacent to Kellogg Eye Center
• Better gas mileage is Detroit's safest route to fiscal health
• Existing vaccine facilities can handle flu pandemic
• Ringing in new antibiotic drugs
• Survey elicits information to boost wellness efforts for graduate students
• Regents approve site preparation for North Quad
• Projects to upgrade residence halls continue
• Spotlight: Flint gift officer, alumna is good for a laugh or two
• If you haven't been there, be sure you get to U-Go's
• Can U.S. get better health care at a manageable cost?
• Mumps poses risk to students, faculty and staff, authorities say
• Feedback guides International Center service changes
• Wallenberg recipient helps 'Lost Boys' and others from East Africa
• New Voter Resource: "A Decision-Making Guide to the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative"
• Author Sandra Cisneros to explore complexity of Latina identity
• Intervention improves student academic outcomes
• Coleman celebrates U-M history with dedication
• Don't Miss
• Photo: Provost's trivia contest winner
• Photo: Emerson String Quartet at Rackham Sept. 29
• Photo: "Lost Boys of Sudan" screens at Michigan Theater Sept. 27