Tufts evaluated three potential sites for a new dorm this summer, coming one step closer to construction. The Board of Trustees approved funding to research the project last semester.
The Department of Operations conducted topographical surveys and analyzed the soil of plots next to Hill Hall, across from the Aidekman Arts Center on Talbot Ave., and the land on which the Start and Alumni houses stand. One of these sites will likely house the new dorm.
What began last year as a tentative plan has become more concrete. "There's certainly no doubt in my mind that we'll build it," said John Roberto, vice president of operations.
Roberto expects the design process to begin next month, when the University will select an architect. Planning the drafts, which will include student input, will take about six months. Next summer, the administration will ask trustees for funds to begin constructing the building, and Roberto said groundbreaking will begin soon afterwards.
The dorm is scheduled to open in the fall of 2003.
Although Tufts would not give a price estimate for the dorm, Roberto said the decline in local construction work could reduce the project's cost.
The trustees approved tentative plans for the new dorm in February. In response to student concern over a growing housing shortage, former Tufts Community Union Trustee Representative Jesse Levey lobbied for 300-person capacity residence hall. This year, Levey heads the Student Housing Coalition, which aims to solve the housing crunch by asking students for workable solutions.
"It's important that the dorm meets the needs of students in size, location, and programming," Levey said.
Roberto echoed Levey's sentiment, but said that the new dorm needs to balance residential space with facilities for student programs and events. A 150 to 200-bed dorm is the most feasible arrangement, he said.
Administrators remain cautious about overbuilding on the University's hilly swath of New England real estate. After South Hall was completed in 1991, several student rooms went unoccupied. Bush Hall was largely vacant several years ago, when local rents decreased dramatically, luring students off-campus.
But the demand for a new residence hall has surged, with off-campus housing more expensive and scarce. According to a spring 2001 survey by the Office of Off-Campus Housing, the average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in the Medford/Somerville area is $1,200 and the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,600.
But according to Cheryl Janse, an agent at Rental Experts in Cambridge, rents remained steady during the past year despite a declining economy.
With steep prices and no guarantee for housing after sophomore year, sophomore Kurt Bruch said a new dorm would be an "excellent idea so that everyone can live together in one community." Students are not adequately informed about the procedure for finding junior-year housing, he said.
"I'm not thinking about [housing], but I probably should be," Bruch said. "I don't know where to go for resources."
But his concerns are not universal. Junior Meredith Gilbert said she did not have problems finding off-campus housing and that the difficulty of finding somewhere to live - on-campus or off - is exaggerated.
"I had a lot of junior friends that were really worried," she said. "They couldn't afford off-campus housing, they had bad lottery numbers, but they all got housing."
