Carleton to Begin Construction on New Residence Halls

Carleton College will begin construction on two new residence halls on the southeast part of campus on Monday, May 12, with a goal of occupancy for September, 2009. The Northfield City Council approved a Conditional Use Permit for the project in their May 5 meeting, clearing the way for construction of the $27.5 million halls to begin.

The two residence halls will accommodate 230 students in both suite and traditional dormitory style rooms. Approximately half of the new residence hall beds will be devoted to increasing the number of students living on campus, thus reducing future participation in the “Northfield Option.” The rest of the new beds will be for students currently on campus, allowing the college to reduce the use of “over-capacity” buildings or convert College-owned houses from student to faculty rental uses.

Many sustainable and LEED options are being considered for the project, including solar domestic hot water heating and the future use of photovoltaic panels. The reconstructed site will have less impervious paving than currently exists, and should result in improved storm water management and reduced runoff. The building envelope is designed to be extremely energy efficient and the College is seeking a LEED Gold certification for the project.

Although the designers have sought to save as many trees as possible, either by design or by physically moving them to a new location on the site, there will be some trees that must be removed. Several of those are considered diseased or weak and would have likely been removed without the construction. Recent assistance from the College’s residential neighbors resulted in convincing the City of Northfield to reduce their parking requirement, thus enabling the College to save additional trees and green space. Several new trees will also be planted.

A full description of the tree situation, along with construction updates, a contact form, and other information on the project, is included on the web site for the project.