The empty lot where Monagle Hall once stood, (the open grass space between Corbett Center Student Union and Rhodes-Garrett-Hamiel) will start seeing construction in the near future. Monagle Hall was demolished in the fall of 2016 and the lot has been vacant as the process of the new residence hall is being finalized.

Glen Haubold the Associate Vice President for Facilities and Heather Watenpaugh the university Architect and Campus Planning Officer at New Mexico State University sat down with The Round Up to discuss the logistics of the new building.

“It’s a much longer process than what it looks like,” Haubold said.

Facilities will be outreaching to construction companies to take on the project by the beginning of next month. They will be getting estimates of how much the construction will cost them and where it will fall in the timeline they anticipate for. By April of 2018 they will decide on the company and by May of the same year they will break ground on the construction of the new residence hall.

The new building will house approximately 300 students and be designed in a Spanish Renaissance style with two classrooms inside for instruction. The classes to be taught are said to be from the 100 and 200 level courses designed for first year students.

“The new hall will be similar to Piñon where it will be suite based,” Watenpaugh explained. “Two students will share the bedroom as well as the bathroom with their two neighbors.”

Estrella Gomez, a senior studying communication disorders is a resident assistant for the Chamisa Village Apartment community at NMSU and believes this will increase student morale on campus.

“Honestly, I think it’s a good idea what they are doing,” Gomez said. “With the newest dorms on campus, it’s going to be a lot more appealing to live on campus.”

Gomez believes that students who live on campus seem to be more involved and do better in school. She also has concerns that other residence halls on campus need to be renovated as well.

According to Watenpaugh the the cost of the new building will be 21 and half million dollars for the entire construction of the new building. With the Revenue Bond received by the university they will have five existing renovations estimated at 11 million dollars.

“They aren’t going to be renovations so to say, but maintenance to be done to the already existing buildings,” Watenpaugh said.

Some of the maintenance work to be done is the re-painting of interior rooms, internal plumbing issues in some buildings and exterior renovations. The building is set to open by Fall of 2019 if all is permitting.