Plans finalized for new residence hall

The residence hall will be built on the Hackensack side of the campus on the edge of the parking lot opposite the Edward Williams Building. FDU has signed a letter of intent and is finalizing design plans and contract terms with Manske Development Management (MDM), an affiliate of Interstate Industrial Corp, the same firm that constructed the Florham-Madison facility. 

The University now is in the process of garnering approvals from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, as well as county and city (Hackensack) agencies. Construction could begin in January and is slated to take about one year.

“If we get approvals on a timely basis and the weather is favorable, then we should be completed by January 2001,” said Richard Riccio, vice president for administration. 

The exterior will feature a brick facade laid in decorative patterns, adorned with concrete trim resembling limestone. The building will contain approximately 80 suites, designed similarly to the rooms in the new Florham-Madison residence hall. Each 750-square-foot suite is slated to house four students and will contain a kitchen, living room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms. 

The cost of the new residence hall, estimated at approximately $12.5 million, will be funded with the proceeds from a bond issue.

“The new residence hall will provide much needed space for our resident students as well as an attractive and comfortable facility that will bring students together,” said Executive Vice President Carl Viola. 

Viola explained that the residence halls on the campus have been fully occupied for the past few years and temporary off-campus housing had to be arranged for 30 first-time, full-time freshmen this fall. He also said that approximately 85 percent of the campus’s international students are living off-campus. Furthermore, the University projects enrollments to continue growing, thus making the addition of new housing essential.

“With a new, state-of-the-art residence hall,” said Paula Hooper Mayhew, provost, T-H, “students on the Teaneck-Hackensack Campus will enjoy the best of apartment-style campus living within easy reach of the vast intellectual, financial and artistic resources of New York City. The combination is unbeatable!”

As part of the campus facilities plan, FDU also is planning other projects to enhance the sense of community on the Teaneck-
Hackensack Campus, including the renovation of Robison Hall and the construction of a new softball field. Funding for those projects would come from state funds that have been allocated for capital projects at independent colleges. Those projects still must be approved by the Commission on Higher Education. 

FDU also has plans to relocate its baseball and soccer fields to the North Parking lot, to demolish the old gymnasium and Lyans Hall, to construct a new multipurpose building and to provide added walkways and green areas early in the new millennium. 

A campus map highlighting the planned additions was displayed at the reception following the annual Academic Convocation, September 29, in Dickinson Hall.

 
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