Three new dorms, located along the back of the baseball field, are currently under construction. They are the last three of an eleven building project. Reid Raudenbush, director of the physical plant, explained the time line of the project. "Last year during 2000 four apartments were built. This past summer, four more were built, and three are currently under construction," Raudenbush said. "Howard, Frederick, Montgomery and Carroll were all the houses built last year. The ones built over the summer were Allegheny, Garrett, Prince George and Charles. The last ones to be built are Anne Arundel, Calvert and St. Mary's."
"The new dorms are running at about $450,000 each. This includes all construction and the placement of utilities," Raudenbush said. These apartment-style buildings are built to blend in with the rest of the architecture on campus. When asked about the individual structures, Raudenbush noted that, "all the buildings are identical in layout. Garrett is the only one that is a little bit different. It has one handicapped accessible room. So instead of having four separate bedrooms off of the common area there are only three. The dimensions for that room and the bathroom are larger proportionally. There are also no steps up to that unit."
A private contractor is building the dorms. "The contractor we have working on the dorms is Emory Hill, from New Castle Delaware," Raudenbush said. "They are the owners and operators of apartment complexes and built the apartments at Kent Crossing."
The new housing buildings are intended to relieve the overcrowding in current dorms."All the students [in lounges] will move into the buildings now under construction," explained Dean of Students Maureen McIntire.
"We anticipated that last year's class would be a large class as well as this year," said McIntire. This year the school gained four hundred and four new students. She added that, "Some of the older dorms also need renovation. The new dorms will house the students while the old ones are repaired."
The dorms are nearing completion and Raudenbush stated that, "Everything should be finished by Halloween. One will be done by the end of September." The freshman can look forward to moving into their new campus homes before the holiday season.
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