Facilities Management guts an apartment in the Calvert Hall basement in order to give it a $50,000 facelift.

Calvert Hall is getting a nearly $50,000 facelift, but students shouldn’t expect to see the improvements in dorm rooms — the changes are for the basement, a floor students seldom visit but one the South Hill community director calls home.

The Resident Life Department is about halfway through its project of renovating on-campus staff apartments — a project that started in spring 2006 and is set to last another four to six years. Each refurbishment takes four to six months to complete, and 18 apartments have already been completed over the last several years. There are 12 more that have yet to be renovated.

The apartments, which house the university’s community and resident directors, are located in all of the campus’ dorms. Many of the apartments — some that have not been renovated since the buildings were originally built in the 1960s — need a number of new bathroom and kitchen fixtures to increase their appeal and meet building codes, said Jon Dooley, director of Residential Facilities.

Mike Glowacki, assistant to the Resident Life director, said when recruiting resident and community directors, the quality of the apartments — which they can live in for free as a part of their contract — is often a key factor in potential staff members’ decisions whether to accept job offers. To provide the best staff for students, Glowacki said it is important to provide those prospective employees the most appealing living arrangements.

“There was a general sense from the staff that live there that there were a number of problems with some of the systems in their apartments,” he said. “They reported the issues to their supervisors, so we became aware of the situation. There was just recognition across the board that we needed to renovate.”

Dooley said the cost of the renovations can start at $50,000, but because some apartments are more outdated or are getting an additional bedroom, the final price tag can be much more expensive. The apartments are being paid for with funds from the university’s housing budget, which comes from students’ room and board charges.

Calvert Hall’s apartment is set to be completed by Memorial Day, and officials plan to move on to the resident director’s space in Elkton Hall next. David Williams, the South Hill community director who was living in Calvert’s basement before the renovation, was unavailable for comment.

Sophomore business major Bryan Oringhe, who lives in Calvert, said the early construction became a nuisance at the beginning of the semester, prompting him to report his frustration to the department. Since then, he said the loud noises have stopped.

“We complained, and they’ve finally stopped making noise before 9 a.m.,” he said. “In the past couple of weeks they’ve been fine about it and haven’t started too early.”

Although the department is about to unveil a new dorm, Oakland Hall, next semester, some students officials plan to move on to the resident director’s space in Elkton Hall next. David Williams, the South Hill community director who was living in Calvert’s basement before the renovation, was unavailable for comment.

Sophomore business major Bryan Oringher, who lives in Calvert, said the early construction became a nuisance at the beginning of the semester, prompting him to report his frustration to the department.

“We complained, and they’ve finally stopped making noise before 9 a.m.,” he said.

Although the department is about to unveil a new dorm, Oakland Hall, next semester, some students said they were frustrated Resident Life officials would choose to renovate staff apartments over student rooms.

“I’m pissed,” said sophomore electrical engineering major Pauline Ziadeh, who lives in Carroll Hall. “My room sucks. It’s so tiny. They should focus on renovating our dorm rooms, especially in buildings like mine that are super old.”

Other students said since the money is coming out of their room and board fees, they should be reaping the benefits through construction on dorm rooms.

“If students are going to pay for it, it should go to students,” sophomore letters and sciences major Lamar Rogers said. “End of story.”

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