The vacant lots north of Studebaker Complex where houses once stood is about to be occupied by construction equipment once Ball State University breaks ground for its next residence hall this summer.
Kevin Kenyon, associate vice president of facilities planning and management, said preliminary designs for North Hall are about 75 percent complete.
"It has a lot of similarities to Park Hall both in the way it looks and the features that are in there," Kenyon said.
Greg Graham, interim director of facilities planning and management, said the university estimates total costs for the residence hall, which include things such as furniture, to be about $47 million, whereas construction costs for the building alone are projected to be about $38.8 million.
Alan Hargrave, director of housing and residence life, said in a previous interview construction for Park Hall cost $27.8 million.
Graham said the main reason for the cost increase is North Hall's larger size. Park Hall has about 500 rooms, but North Hall will have about 600, he said.
Prices of materials are also responsible for the higher costs, Graham said.
"Costs of construction in the last couple of years have just skyrocketed," he said. "The cost of steel jumped a lot. Copper tripled. Cement has gone up a ton. A lot of it has to do with a lot of construction in China. Those are the key kind of factors. Plus, there's the high cost of gas."
Hargrave said Ball State met with architects on Monday to discuss the design and construction of the building.
"They're still working on finishing up the design pieces of it," Hargrave said. "They're still moving a few pieces around so that the building works well with the kind of things we need."
In contrast to Park Hall's rooms, Hargrave said, North Hall will offer several "semi-apartment style" rooms. The rooms will be built to house three or four students, and they will include single bedrooms and kitchens, he said.
Hargrave said the university used focus groups to collect information from students about what they wanted in the new residence hall.
"I think students will be very happy with it," he said. "It's going to be spectacular."
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