By Jane Smith
Allegheny College plans to add as many as 250 students to its five-acre North Village now that it has purchased one of two homes that remain in the former residential neighborhood the school bought up and demolished.
The college has purchased a house on North Main Street for $150,000 from Christine Wharton Leonard and James Stanley Leonard and will tear it down to make way for a new residence hall, according to Larry Lee, vice president of finance and planning. The Village makes up the area with Highland Avenue, Limber Road, and East John and North Main streets as its boundaries.
The new hall will be North Village Phase II, said Lee. The architectural design has been prepared and will be presented to the college board for approval in October. “We are looking at between 230 and 258,” said Lee of how many students the hall will accommodate. “That has not been determined yet.”
If all goes well, construction is expected to start next spring and be completed by fall of 2010 for the opening the school year.
The planned construction will be the final hall built, Lee said. It will join three other residence halls built at a cost of $9.7 million in the North Village that house about 105 students.
“We think that will take us to 88 percent of the student people will be on campus,” Lee said. “We believe there is a tremendous benefit to be a residential college.”
The college’s last strategic plan called for between 85 to 90 percent on-campus housing. “This will do that,” said Lee.
“It’s a neat design,” said Lee of the building’s exterior , noting it is “intended to blend with the ambiance of the college.” It will blend with either Calfisch Hall or the new residence halls, he explained.
It will feature a mixture of two- or four-bedroom apartments. “We believe this style will be tremendously popular for students. The most popular is the two-bedroom style,” he said, noting that allows students to choose their own roommates more easily.
At this time, there are no further plans for further construction for student housing.
In addition to putting up the North Village buildings, the college also purchased an apartment building for $1.2 million at the corner of Jefferson Street and Limber Road to house 46 students.
Jane Smith can be reached at 724-6370.
