The Penn State board of trustees has approved a $92.1 million plan to renovate two residence halls on the State College campus.
The Centre Daily Times reports the Phase 3A of the Pollock Halls Renovation Project calls for renovating Ritner and Wolf halls, the first two of nine total Pollock residence halls,
Construction will begin after the spring semester ends and is anticipated to be completed by summer 2026. The renovation is part of the university’s East and Pollock Halls renewal program, which spans four capital plans with construction starting in 2016 and ending in 2030.
Phase 3A will replace building systems that are inefficient and at its end of life, and connect the renovated halls to the campus chilled water system for a more effective, climate controlled space. The upper floors will have a study room, shared private bathrooms in the center of the floor with double rooms around the perimeter.
Tom Rodgers, interim associate vice president of facilities management and planning, and chief facilities officer, said the university considered other alternatives to renovations, including demolishing and rebuilding the halls, but they weren’t pursued because of issues related with cost, labor, zoning limitations and the length of construction.
Pollock Halls accounts for nearly 20% of the campus housing inventory with about 2,700 beds.
On another matter, The trustees decided to divest about 41.5 acres at the Penn State Harrisburg campus. The university will sell the land to Dermody Properties for $19.5 million to use it for industrial purposes.
The property was purchased for about $1.2 million in 1968 and was previously an Air Force base. Penn State used it for housing from 1972 until 2002 and has not used it since.
