The University of Maryland’s residential facilities department has created a committee to plan the renovation of Ellicott Community, which is slated to begin in 2025 or 2026.
The Ellicott Community Program Committee is comprised of groups from the university’s student affairs division who will create a written program that addresses spacing and other factors needed to renovate Ellicott Community, according to Henry Dickson, a residential facilities associate director. The renovation could include lounges and spaces for student organizations within Ellicott, La Plata and Hagerstown halls, residential facilities director Andrea Crabb said.
The project needs approval from the Board of Regents and the University System of Maryland, Crabb said at a town hall held Tuesday by this university’s Residence Hall Association.
The renovation plans would also address infrastructure concerns in Ellicott Community, such as the electrical system, elevators, windows and piping, Crabb said. The plans would hopefully be written within three and a half months, according to Dickson.
Once the plans are approved, the residential facilities department will seek a bid from architects and engineers, Crabb said.
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“Ellicott will be the same structure, but it could be that there’s more glass and… we’re going to definitely modernize it from an architectural perspective as well,” Crabb said.
Crabb hopes the Ellicott Community will look similar to the Edward St. John Learning and Teaching Center after renovations, she said.
Fixing the maintenance problems in Ellicott Hall would likely require a complete overhaul, such as redoing all the piping or ventilation, said freshman mechanical engineering major Jake Middleton, who is the RHA’s Ellicott representative,
The plan could include bringing air conditioning to dorms in the Ellicott Community.
“In the year and a half I’ve been doing this, the number one thing I’m always asked about is air conditioning, and rightfully so,” said RHA President Scott Cronin, a junior government and politics major.
Residential facilities and facilities management are also prepared to consult architects and engineers to finish a design to replace the South Hill Community’s underground infrastructure, Dickson said.
Crabb said construction in the South Hill Community should start in the next couple of years. Replacing the underground infrastructure will allow for potential renovations for the community in the future, she added.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story’s headline misstated that Facilities Management is planning the Ellicott Community renovation. The university’s residential facilities and resident life departments are planning the renovation. This story’s headline has been updated.
