SJSU’s freshman dorm village delayed
SAN JOSE — Hundreds of San Jose State freshmen who were expecting to move in to the university’s newest student housing this weekend will instead have to bed down in “The Bricks,” an antiquated 1960 dormitory slated for demolition, campus officials announced Thursday.
The university said construction of the 10-story freshman dorm Campus Village Building 2 is several weeks behind schedule and that it could be four weeks before it is ready for students to move in.
Until then, the 820 students who were to live at Campus Village 2 will begin their freshman year living two-to-a-room or threeto-a-room in the decadesold Washburn, Royce and Hoover Halls, which are traditional three-story residence halls known as “The Bricks.”
Stefanie Teller, spokeswoman for Arizona-based Sundt Construction, the contractor for the project, said the delay was due to a “change in regulatory procedures.” The construction team worked “double shifts, seven days a week” to reduce the delay to just a few weeks, she said, and they expect to be cleared for students to move in “within the next couple of weeks.”
Some students may be able to move in after only two weeks if a portion of the building is completed ahead of time.
The Bricks were originally erected in 1960, Pat Harris, an SJSU spokeswoman, said. After decades of occupancy, the residence halls were originally slated to be vacant for the fall semester.
“There is some wear and tear, particularly in the bathroom showers,” Harris said. “Everything is as neat and clean as it can be, but the structures are near the end of their useful lives.”
Currently, there is no plan to repaint and re-carpet the old dorms unless absolutely necessary to ensure student safety, Harris said.
The university will at- tempt to place students in the same room or on the same floor as their assigned roommates for Campus Village 2, and will charge students a decreased rate for housing during the weeks that they spend in The Bricks.
Once students are shuttled to Campus Village 2, SJSU plans to demolish two of the buildings to make way for the construction of the $130 million Student Recreation and Aquatic Center this fall. That project is anticipated to be completed in late 2018 or early 2019, Harris said.
To sweeten the pot, the university will hire professional movers to assist students with moving from The Bricks into their new digs. They will also dole out free SJSU sweatshirts and give each student a $150 card to use at on-campus dining locations and the Spartan Bookstore.
SJSU originally broke ground on the $126.1 million Campus Village 2 project in 2014. The 193,000-squarefoot tower accommodates a total of 850 students.
Each floor will have 50 double rooms that open to shared hallways, and each have a study room, an activity room and a laundry room. The first two floors will also have offices and collaboration spaces for student groups and the university community, and there are courtyards on two sides of the building.
SJSU is no stranger to housing hiccups. Back in 2011, university housing was so impacted that SJSU gave 100 older students the option of living in the San Jose’s Clarion Hotel on North Fourth Street, complete with a restaurant, bar, hot tub and pool. But it required students to commute 3 miles to and from campus.
Campus Village 2 will boast a sustainable design — it hits Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Silver equivalency standards and has a significant amount of natural lighting.