For immediate release: October 25, 2002.
For more information, contact Jeff Bendix at 216-368-6070 or jxb34@po.cwru.edu.

CLEVELAND—The make-over of Case Western Reserve University's north campus called for in the 2001 master plan is getting its own make-over. Trustees, at their October meeting, approved an administrative request to begin design work on a revised version of the proposed North Residential Village development and new parking garage. The changes include:

An artist's rendering of the revised first phase of the master plan

• New residence halls containing 490 beds in apartment-style units between Finnegan Fields and E. 115th St. The housing will be designated primarily for juniors and seniors.
• A 1,200-car parking garage on the east side of Finnegan Fields, facing East 118th Street. The garage will incorporate stadium-style seating and press box on its west side.
• A new field house immediately north of the new parking garage. ¥ Consolidating the varsity football and soccer fields into one multi-use field with state-of-the-art synthetic turf.
• Renovating about 68 University-owned apartment units in buildings on the north campus.
• Reconfiguring the athletic fields and moving them slightly east toward East 118th Street to accommodate new housing on the west side of Finnegan Fields.

The projects will cost about $80 million. Completion of the first phase of residence hall construction is expected in 2005.

The original plan, along with the project-in-concept approved last January, called for building an 800-car garage at the south end of Finnegan and residence halls comprised of 450 units with a mix of singles, doubles, suites and apartments at the southwest end of the field.

Ken Basch, vice president for campus planning and operations; and Glenn Nicholls, vice president for student affairs, outlined the changes during a recent meeting of representatives of the "New CWRU Crew," the committee of students, faculty and staff charged with implementing aspects of the master plan concerning student life. The meeting was convened by Rhonda Gross, executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Basch explained that the changes were approved to reflect the kinds of housing students say they prefer as well as site conditions that had not been fully identified in the 2001 master plan.

"The focus groups and surveys our consultants Biddison-Hier conducted showed a strong desire for apartment-style housing for juniors and seniors-a type of housing the University doesn't now offer-so we decided to make that type of housing the first phase of the project," Basch said.

He added that when the residence hall architects GoodyClancy and Associates surveyed the site chosen for the residence halls and began preliminary design work, they discovered that about half the new units would need to be "single-loaded"-corridors with rooms only on one side-in order to fit the site.

"Single-loaded residence halls are not consistent with the feeling of community we want to create in the halls," Basch said.

Building the residence halls between the athletic fields and East 115th Street will require additional space, which will mean moving the fields slightly to the east.

"Instead of the site driving the program, we are having the program drive the site," Basch said. "Also, the redesign provides opportunities to enhance the relationship of the residential village with our neighbors by creating more green space south of Wade Park Boulevard."

Nicholls said the apartment-style housing to be built in the first phase in the North Residential Village is intended largely for juniors and seniors. Typical units will be about 1,200 square feet and contain four bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and a common room.

"With upperclass students we find there is less of a demand for singles and doubles and more for housing that resembles apartments," he said.

Construction of the North Residential Village is expected to take place in four or five phases over a period of 10-12 years, Basch said.

In other developments at the meeting, Nicholls announced that University trustees have also approved the "heart of the campus" campaign to raise funds for a student center and new alumni center on Euclid Avenue and enhancements to the Kelvin Smith Library. He also said that the new diner on the north campus is expected to be finished in December.

–CWRU–

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