Aquinas College wraps up summer construction on student housing, sports complex

With a record number of students planning to move to campus this fall in time for the 2014-15 academic year, construction on a new student residence at Aquinas College is wrapping up and will be available for occupancy when the semester kicks off Aug. 23. 

Meg Derrer, associate vice president of communications at Aquinas College, says 865 students are signed up to live on campus this year, more than the 831 that lived on campus last academic year. 

The $5 million project created space for 72 more students to live in 24,176 square feet of furnished living space, with each apartment including a kitchen, living room, and shared bathroom for every two rooms. The LEED-certified building also features two communal lounges and a laundry facility. 

Completion of construction for the $14 million Alksnis Athletics and Recreation Building was slated for August 2014, but Derrer said that time frame has been pushed to October, with no solid date for a ribbon cutting or open house thus far. 

However, she says the new 70,000-square-foot building at 1580 Fulton St. SE will still come complete with a 200-meter NCAA-certified track with additional wooden floor courts for basketball, volleyball, cheerleading and dance. Also included in the new building is a turf infield, portable courts, practice areas for baseball, softball, soccer and lacrosse as well as an extensive curtaining system that will allow for the space to have multiple uses simultaneously. 

“It will offer a great venue for our students to play, practice and compete,” Derrer says. 

Construction Company: Rockford Construction 

Writer: Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor

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