UR channels its inner Oprah for dorm plan

The bulldozers will soon be firing up again at the University of Richmond.

The school will tentatively break ground in March on two student housing projects: a dormitory and a student apartment complex with a combined cost of about $34 million.

The 48,000-square-foot dorm will house about 150 students, and the 70,000-square-foot apartment complex will house about 170.

If all goes as planned, construction should wrap by July 2014.

“We’d ideally like to have students in these buildings by the start of the 2014 school year,” said Andrew McBride, UR’s associate vice president for facilities.

The architects for the new dorm are Norfolk-based Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company.

The architect on the apartment project is locally based BCWH, which is partnering with McMillan Pazdan Smith.

The housing projects are the university’s latest step toward implementing the campus master plan approved in 2011 by the board of trustees. McBride said one of the plan’s main goals is to renovate most of the existing student housing without displacing any of the 2,700 students that live on campus.

“The dorm will give us a place to house students while we reconfigure the rest of the campus housing,” McBride said.

UR most recently finished construction on a $5 million student activity center.

McBride said that the apartment complex would be located near the campus’s River Road entrance and that it should help people recognize where the campus begins.

“We want visitors to have this ‘aha moment’ when they come in from the River Road entrance,” McBride said. “We want them to know that they’ve arrived at the University of Richmond.”

The bulldozers will soon be firing up again at the University of Richmond.

The school will tentatively break ground in March on two student housing projects: a dormitory and a student apartment complex with a combined cost of about $34 million.

The 48,000-square-foot dorm will house about 150 students, and the 70,000-square-foot apartment complex will house about 170.

If all goes as planned, construction should wrap by July 2014.

“We’d ideally like to have students in these buildings by the start of the 2014 school year,” said Andrew McBride, UR’s associate vice president for facilities.

The architects for the new dorm are Norfolk-based Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company.

The architect on the apartment project is locally based BCWH, which is partnering with McMillan Pazdan Smith.

The housing projects are the university’s latest step toward implementing the campus master plan approved in 2011 by the board of trustees. McBride said one of the plan’s main goals is to renovate most of the existing student housing without displacing any of the 2,700 students that live on campus.

“The dorm will give us a place to house students while we reconfigure the rest of the campus housing,” McBride said.

UR most recently finished construction on a $5 million student activity center.

McBride said that the apartment complex would be located near the campus’s River Road entrance and that it should help people recognize where the campus begins.

“We want visitors to have this ‘aha moment’ when they come in from the River Road entrance,” McBride said. “We want them to know that they’ve arrived at the University of Richmond.”

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Ryan Heins
Ryan Heins
11 years ago

Any news on the General Contractors being used for these projects? Are they local?

Bruce
Bruce
11 years ago
Reply to  Ryan Heins

They are from New Jersey

Ruben Foster
Ruben Foster
11 years ago
Reply to  Bruce

How appropriate considering that’s where most of the students are from.

Richmond BizSense
Richmond BizSense
11 years ago

Thanks for the question, Ryan. Here is the response we got from UR:

“Donley’s Construction for the Westhampton Residence Hall and Hourigan Construction for the South Campus Apartments.”

Jack
Jack
11 years ago

As an alum, I have to chuckle about the New Jersey comments. We used to refer to UR as the University of New Jersey in Richmond.