Lee and Sullivan residence halls are anticipated to be torn down within 5-10 years, but not before being replaced with new residential halls. NC State’s goal is to make sure no beds will be lost during this transition.
According to Lisa Johnson, university architect, the decision for Lee and Sullivan Hall to eventually be torn down was made during the 2007/2008 student housing master plan. Right now, University Housing, Johnson and other outside departments are working together to create a new student housing master plan that will finalize the future of Lee and Sullivan halls.
Both Johnson and Barry Olson, associate vice chancellor for business administration, explained why Lee and Sullivan were chosen as the next residence halls to be torn down.
Olson said that the majority of residence halls on campus were built decades ago, but Lee and Sullivan in particular are out of date. Olson also said it would be more expensive to renovate the two buildings than to start from scratch with new residential halls.
“Buildings have a life, so from a standpoint of functionality and usability, they are getting up there,” Olson said. “We would have much more system work to do in order to bring them up to the standards of our younger buildings.”
Johnson stated that Lee and Sullivan are not accessible to people with disabilities. Both buildings are 12 stories, and their elevators only stop in between floors. Once getting off the elevator, stairs must still be taken in order to get to the suites. This is an issue for wheelchair-bound students or people with injuries that inhibit them from climbing stairs.
While the university knows these two halls must be torn down in the future, they are having a difficult time deciding what to build next and where.
According to Johnson, the university will try to place the new dorms along Cates Avenue to keep them central to campus. They are also considering building traditional or suite-style halls rather than apartments. NC State’s last housing project added approximately 2,400 beds through the construction of Wolf Village and Wolf Ridge, which are both apartment complexes.
“It probably will not be more apartment-style buildings, and that is what the private sector is building all around campus, with Stanhope and all those developments along Hillsborough Street,” Johnson said. “We want it to be in the Cates Avenue quarter, making it more walkable and pedestrian friendly for students.”
Unlike some of the older dorms, such as the Tri Towers, Lee and Sullivan, Olson said that NC State will be staying away from building massive, multi-level residence halls.
“The large, loomy, multi-level, suite-style buildings have a lot of structure to carry them,” Olson said. “From an architectural standpoint, a four- or five-story building is the desire to go forward.”
Olson said that the process of transitioning to new dorms will be done in a thoughtful manner in order to not lose beds for students or make the project unaffordable.
“You’d love to slip right in and knock a building down, but buildings make money, too, so that is a part of the game of exactly how do we afford all of this,” Olson said.
Olson said that the campus has a lot of history, and each building tells a story, therefore the university is sensitive to what these buildings have contributed to campus.
“If you talk to residents of Lee and Sullivan halls, both of them have loved their experience and can’t imagine life without Lee and Sullivan,” Olson said. “The student housing master plan is making an effort to catalogue all of those pieces and make sure that we know everything about the building.”
Both Olson and Johnson stated that the student housing master plan will be completed fall 2019. More information regarding the locations of new dorms and a timeline of Sullivan and Lee being torn down will become available once a master plan is finalized.
