As the spring semester begins to wrap up, renovations to on-campus housing complexes are drawing nearer. Renovations for Stevenson Wing in the Wallace Residence Center and the top three floors of Theophilus Tower are set to begin after commencement in May.
After an initial $162 million bond approval for housing updates and renovation by the Idaho State Board of Education in November, plans for what to do with the money have been discussed by the university.
Since then, the construction on the South Hill has progressed. That project is to be completed by August 2026, with improvements of Theophilus Tower and the Wallace Residence Center set to be finished between August 2025 and August 2027.
Though renovations will occur throughout the coming school years, displacing many students from both Wallace and the Tower, UI is upholding the requirement for first-year students to live on campus.
According to Erik Elordi, Executive Director of Campus Services, this regulation has a number of positive outcomes.
“We know from research that students living on-campus their first year, whether in the residence halls or fraternity and sorority life, perform better with higher GPAs, retention and graduation rates,” Elordi said. “The on-campus living requirement is essential to the success of our students and their connection to the U of I community.”
Despite this, part of the goal of the housing renovations is to accommodate more students. This has become a necessity, as the annual enrollment rates of UI have been continuously increasing over the past few years.
Elordi also provided details on the future number of beds.
In fall 2024, the residence hall communities offered 2,074 beds. By fall 2027, when the project is completed, 2,110 residence hall beds will be available, a net increase of 36. The South Hill apartment communities previously offered 500 rooms in 242 units, and when the project is completed in fall 2027, 688 rooms in 362 units will be available.
Throughout the construction, as one wing of Wallace comes offline each semester for the next two years, the North Campus Communities will be available for the overflow housing.
The Stevenson Wing currently has 159 beds, so while the renovations are underway in the upcoming semester, the NCCs will provide 200 beds to temporarily replace those spaces.
For upperclassmen who don’t have housing priority due to the first-year on-campus requirement, Elordi explained that the university has worked hard to provide resources to search externally for housing.
When asked if the university has received student input on the renovations, Elordi said that the project has been introduced to students over the last few months.
“This upcoming fall, students will have an opportunity to see and test furniture that will be part of the project. Their feedback will determine what furniture we have and the upholstery that is selected,” Elordi said. “We’re going to continue to find ways to engage with students over the next two years, including ‘hard hat’ tours of the project starting in the fall.”
Paige Wilton can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu.