New housing will be coming to Mercer University by fall 2021.
“We’re in the process of looking at plans and meeting with contractors for designs,” Jeff Takac, director of housing and residence life, said.
The new building will house around 300 students and will be geared towards upperclassmen. The layout will feature private bedrooms with suite-style bathrooms.
Takac said new dining options that are not cafeteria style will be constructed in the same building, but the residence hall will not include kitchens. Instead, the new space will feature plenty of common areas.
The new residence hall will be “something similar in a lot of ways to Legacy Hall, but without community bathrooms. More for upperclassmen with the same type of atmosphere,” Takac said.
He said there is also discussion about adding a parking deck on campus. It would be located across from the tennis courts.
The deck would serve residents of the new residence hall and also be used as “combination for campus, especially on weekends during games ” according to Takac.
“It’s exciting. We’re looking forward to it. It gives us a lot of variety,” he said.
Roshni Patel, a sophomore global development and international affairs double-major, said the new option will help make finding attractive housing on campus easier.
“Housing (at) Mercer is like “The Hunger Games.” There are a few good options such as Legacy, Mercer Hall and Garden Apartments, and the rest are outdated and cramped,” Patel said.
Sophomore Mary Grace Schlueter, a biomedical engineering major, said the new residence hall could alleviate issues that the high demand for limited space has caused in the past.
“If you want even a shot at good housing, you have to wake up at the crack of dawn to fill out the housing contract,” Schlueter said.
Schlueter said she and her roommate aimed to live in the Garden Apartments next year, but all of the spaces were filled before they could access the housing registration process.
“The stress of the process was overwhelming,” she said.
Patel said the new residence hall is a “good start” towards fixing the housing problems.
“One building is not the answer to the housing needs, and Mercer needs to fix the buildings currently on campus,” Patel said.
Takac is optimistic about what the new building will bring to campus.
“Hopefully it’ll be able to meet the wants of all students, and what their needs are,” Takac said.
Planning underway for new upperclassmen residence hall, parking deck on Mercer’s campus
