CWU residence hall slated to open in 2012

ELLENSBURG, Wash. -- Central Washington University is building anew residence hall for underclassmen.

Slated to open in fall 2012, the $21 million building is beingfunded through the sale of bonds. It's replacing Barto Hall, a three-winged, three-story building on the east side of campus.

Barto Hall was constructed in 1962, and each room resembles anapartment -- complete with a private bathroom and an exterior exit.For added security, Senior Housing Director Richard DeShields saidthe new hall will have interior doors. Students will have to passthrough a lobby and show their identification to access their rooms,he said.

The new hall, which has yet to be named, will be up to fourstories tall and come with air conditioning, wireless Internet andseveral study lounges. It will be LEED certified, meaning it willinclude numerous green features, and it will consist of 116,000square feet -- more than double the size of the existing hall.

Residents can expect to pay 20 percent more to stay there insteadof elsewhere on campus, DeShields said. For a double, standard room,that equates to an additional $85 a month, or roughly $4,500 a year.The current rates are $3,700 to $3,900 per year.

The hall also will have 368 beds, up from 174. DeShields said theuniversity's long-term housing plan calls for building two newresidence halls and remodeling the existing ones, most of which wereconstructed in the late '50s and early '60s.

Wendell Hill Hall, at the corner of Dean Nicholson Boulevard andAlder Street, was built first and opened in the fall of 2009. BartoHall will be demolished by late March, and construction of the newhall on the same footprint is expected to run through July 2012. Thecontract was awarded to Killian Construction Co. of Springfield, Mo.

Once the new building opens, work on the other halls will begin.Central has 21 residence halls and three apartment complexes. About40 percent of the university's 11,000-plus students live on campus,and there are early signs that the number could grow, DeShieldssaid.

"We are starting to see higher rates of returning studentswanting to stay with us," he said. "Also, (the new hall will have) adifferent living environment. It may attract more students and couldbe a recruitment tool for the university."

Erin Snelgrove can be reached at 509-577-7684 oresnelgrove@yakimaherald.com.