‘Huge change’ at Austin Peay

New dorms opening in Aug.

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. — Three newly constructed residential halls will house about 400 students at Austin Peay State University when classes start in August.

Workers have been busily putting in ceiling tiles, making finishing touches on paint and installing carpet in the three tall brick structures. The university’s director of housing, Joe Mills, told The LeafChronicle the buildings will be ready to go by next month, when students are scheduled to move in.

“We’ve been tracking the entire time; when you have a project of this scope, there is a huge coordination effort,” Mills said. “It gets down to the end and it seems to slow down, but once we get all the people on site, you will see a huge change in the next two weeks.”

The $34 million project is envisioned to provide cohesiveness to all the housing on the west side of campus and a renewed identity for the residential portion of the university.

The school’s first “residential mall” centers around a collegiate commons, or quad lawn.

Each of the three new halls will have approximately 90 double- occupancy rooms, study rooms, meeting rooms and a kitchen on each floor.

The residential halls replace Cross, Killebrew and Rawlins halls, which stood on APSU’s campus for more than 40 years and were demolished in October 2011. The three new residential halls have been named Governors Terrace North, Governors Terrace South and the Martha Dickerson Eriksson Hall.

In May, Lars Eriksson, owner of Florida-based Crankshaft Rebuilders Inc., made a $1 million donation in honor of his late wife, Martha Dickerson Eriksson, a 1962 education graduate of Austin Peay. Lars Eriksson also gave a $10 million estate gift to APSU.

Upperclassmen will occupy Governor’s Terrace North and South. Eriksson Hall will be a freshman dorm and will have a dining facility to accommodate 170 people and operate as a two-venue food court, Mills said.

Martha Dickerson Eriksson Hall and Governors Terrace North are scheduled to begin occupancy on Aug. 1. Governors Terrace South will begin occupancy Aug. 7.

“We’ve put a lot of work to transform this section of campus. It’s always great to have more residential hall space,” said Bill Persinger, director of communications.

Three safe rooms built underneath each dorm can hold up to 1,400 students in case of natural disasters. The rooms are built to Federal Emergency Management Agency standards and are able to withstand an F-5 tornado.

The rooms are built like a shell to also withstand the collapse of the building. The shelter was built with $1.78 million in grant funding.

“I hope we will never have to use it,” Mills said.