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Trustees to vote on additional $3 million for dorm renovations

Harper and Broun Residence Halls will not house any students for the upcoming school year.
Harper and Broun Residence Halls will not house any students for the upcoming school year.

The Auburn University Board of Trustees will hold a specially called meeting on Friday to vote on a $3 million budget increase to meet construction costs for a project to renovate two Quad residence halls. 

At its June 11 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a $13.5 million budget to renovate Broun Residence Hall and Harper Residence Hall. Trustees will vote to increase the budget for renovating the two Quad residence halls to $16.5 million during their meeting held over telephone at 9 a.m. Friday. 

Broun and Harper are just the first two buildings to be renovated as part of the Quad Residence Halls Renovation, which is made up of five phases with two Quad residence halls being renovated each year.

Five construction companies made offers for the project after it went to bid on July 20, all of which were above the allotted construction budget. The lowest bidder, Carlisle Construction, submitted a bid $3 million more than the construction budget, bringing the total cost for the project to $16.5 million. Gov. Kay Ivey called the special Board of Trustees meeting on July 26.

Getting approval for the increase soon is crucial to the project’s success, according to materials for the upcoming meeting. For Harper and Broun Halls to be open by the start of the 2022-23 academic year, construction needs to begin no later than mid-August 2021, materials say. Delaying this renovation by a year will push back the entire five-phase Quad Residence Halls Renovation project by a year. 

An additional year taken on the project also means two years of lost revenue from those residence halls as Broun and Harper Halls will not house students this year due to the anticipated construction.

Bobby Woodard, senior vice president of Student Affairs, said that the Auburn University Housing budget and the University’s Repair and Renovation budget will be able to absorb the additional $3 million cost for the project. Administration will adjust future plans to the University Housing Master Plan accordingly, Woodard said. 


Evan Mealins | Editor-in-chief


Evan Mealins, senior in philosophy and economics, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.

@EvanMealins

ecm0060@auburn.edu


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