Hunter
02/15/23
The University of Iowa plans to sell Mayflower residence hall and build a new one for students.
The Iowa Now website reports that driven by research and feedback from its students, the University of Iowa is poised to make significant upgrades to its housing system in the next five years.
The main project is the selling off of Mayflower Hall and building a new residence hall on the east side of campus, primarily for second, third and fourth-year students. Mayflower is consistently the least-requested hall by students because of its distance from the main campus, and the University has four potential locations in mind for the new residence hall. They include: behind Stanley and Currier halls; next to Alpha Chi Sigma Fraternity on North Clinton Street; The Rec Center parking lot on West Court Street, and the Hillcrest parking lot at the end of Byington Road.
Sarah Hansen, vice president for student life, says that the new hall will bring more students to the central campus and provide easier access to campus dining at nearby Burge and Catlett halls.
The five year plan also includes the remodeling and modernization of Hillcrest and Burge halls, each with a budget of $5 to $10 million. The Hillcrest project is underway, and once that project is completed, Mayflower would close as early as the end of the Spring 2024 semester. Budgeting for construction of a new residence hall would be up to $60 million. Part of the cost would be absorbed by the sale of Mayflower.
The current system of 11 residence halls is showing its age. Nine of them are over 50 years old, the oldest being Currier Hall, built in 1914. There are currently about 6500 beds available for UI students.
Iowa Now reports a preliminary draft of the UI’s Housing and Dining Five-Year Plan will be presented to the Board of Regents on February 22nd, seeking the board’s approval to proceed with planning the future of its housing and dining system.