By Mary Fiess

To meet student demand for campus housing and accommodate projected growth in student enrollment, the University has begun construction of new student housing that will provide on-campus accommodations for an additional 1,200 students.

Empire Commons, the new housing which is being constructed in phases, will be ready for occupancy by 800 students at the beginning of the fall semester in 2002. The accommodations for an additional 400 students are slated for completion in January 2003.

�Attractive, quality student housing is an important element in the University at Albany�s efforts to recruit and retain high-performing undergraduate and graduate students. We are confident this new housing will strengthen the quality of life for our students,� said Vice President for Student Affairs James P. Doellefeld. �These new student residences are one factor in the equation to advance UAlbany into the very top ranks of public research universities in America.�

Featuring apartment-style living accommodations, the new housing complex will consist of 26 buildings located on 25 acres at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Fuller Road. Most of the buildings will be designed with 12 four-bedroom, two-bath apartments for undergraduates — 48 occupants to a building. All bedrooms will be single occupancy. The plan calls for six of the buildings to be constructed in two clusters forming a �graduate community� for graduate students. The current plan for the graduate student apartments includes four bedrooms and four baths. All apartments will feature a kitchen and living room and include a washer and dryer. On the site will be one building that will serve as a commons �welcoming� building, complete with exercise and mail facilities, vending or concession services, staff offices, and meeting areas.

�I am pleased that UAlbany is in the process of constructing campus housing geared to its upperclassmen. Upperclass-men at the University who decide to live in this new housing will surely have the best of both worlds, apartment-style housing with essential amenities such as high-speed Internet access, the presence of blue light phones, and the presence of the University Police Department. Those students who have the choice to live on or off campus will now have a more difficult decision to make,� says Alicia Zayatz, who is majoring in criminal justice and political science.

For graduate students, both the proximity and amenities are appealing features, says Christopher Bischoff, a doctoral student in political science and treasurer of the Graduate Student Organization. �Grad students are always pressed for time. If they are working late at the library, it�s good to know that home is only a short walk away. And with laundry facilities on site, students don�t need to spend valuable time travelling to a laundromat.�

�We are working to develop housing that will best serve our campus community. One reality we face is that we have very little land left on our campus that we can develop. Throughout the design process, we have done everything we can to balance our need for new student housing and our desire to preserve as much green space as possible on our campus,� said Vice President for Finance and Business Paul Stec.

The State University of New York entered into a ground lease agreement with the University at Albany Alumni Association to develop the student housing. The alumni association is subleasing the site to the University at Albany Foundation Student Housing Corporation, which is overseeing the development of the project. The housing will be managed by the University under contract with the Student Housing Corporation. The estimated $59 million in project costs will be funded through municipal tax-exempt bonds, and the Student Housing Corporation is seeking financing through City of Albany�s Industrial Development Agency.

United Development Corp. of Albany is the project developer. Architects are DiMella Shaffer Associates of Boston. The site engineer is Saratoga Associates; the general contractor is BBL Construction Services. First Albany Corporation will serve as bond underwriter.