UVa board set to OK demolition of more dorms

The University of Virginia's Board of Visitors is poised to greenlight yet another round of demolitions of the university's 1960s-era residence halls.

UVa's Board of Visitors meets today and Tuesday at the Rotunda. Among its agenda items is a proposal to raze Tuttle, Lile and Dunnington halls.

Also up for the board's consideration will be approval of the schematic design of a planned 16,000-square-foot expansion of the university's bookstore.

The demolitions of Tuttle and Lile halls would occur in 2013 and would clear the way for construction of a new and upgraded residence hall in their place.

Once the new dorm facility opens in 2015, the university would then knock down Dunnington House. In its place, UVa would build several basketball courts and a sand volleyball area.

Tuttle, Lile and Dunnington are among UVa's residence halls near Scott Stadium that for decades have been referred to as the "New Dorms" since they were built in the 1960s.

"Now they'll be the really new dorms," said Colette Sheehy, UVa's vice president for management and budget.

The demolition of Tuttle, Lile and Dunnington would come on the heels of two earlier rounds of residence hall demolitions, as the university proceeds with a eight-year project to update and expand its Alderman Road residence hall area.

The project began with the construction of the five-story residence hall called Kellogg House, which was completed in August 2008 and is home to 192 first-year students and nine resident staff members.

The second phase of the project got under way over the summer with the demolition of Balz, Dobie and Watson residence halls. In the place of these three dorms will be two new residence halls and a commons building. The three new facilities are slated to open in August 2011.

In phase three of the project, Maupin and Webb residence halls will be torn down to make room for two new dorms that would open in 2013.

The Board of Visitors on Tuesday will be considering if it will approve the project's fourth phase, which consists of the demolition of Tuttle, Lile and Dunnington.

All together, the Alderman Road residence hall project is expected to expand UVa's number of student beds by 1,000.

When the project was first planned, UVa anticipated it would cost a total of $200 million. The project's fourth phase is expected to cost between $62.5 million and $73.1 million, according to UVa documents.

Sheehy noted, however, that the project is so far costing less than originally expected because the economic downturn has reduced construction prices.

"It's nice to be on the other side of the coin," she said. "For years, we were dealing with cost overruns."

After this current dorm replacement project wraps up, more dorm demolitions may be on the horizon. David J. Neuman, the university's architect, said other residence halls in the Alderman Road area are likely to be replaced with new facilities at some point beyond 2015.

The planned expansion of the bookstore would be the first major addition to the facility since it opened in the early 1990s. Construction of the expansion could be completed by June or July of 2011, said Jonathan A. Kates, executive director of the bookstore.

The expansion, which would add to the store's western side, would allow the bookstore to increase its technology offerings and other services. The goal, Kates said, is to keep up with the growing demands of faculty, staff and students.

"One reason we are expanding is because the student body is expanding," he said.

The bookstore will remain open during the duration of construction, he added, though it may have to close briefly for a night or two during the project.