The National Park College (NPC) Board of Trustees approved a resolution to relocate maintenance facilities Wednesday during their regular monthly meeting.
Vice President for Administration, Kelli Embry explained that the current location of the maintenance facility has been identified as the site for the housing expansion project, the first project in phase one of the campus master plan. “The Campus Master plan identified several potential locations for housing. Selecting the current maintenance location provides us with the most economical solution for housing. This location was selected due to its proximity to the existing housing, which provides an opportunity for shared amenities and services.”
The College opted to delay a previous attempt to construct additional on-campus housing in April 2022 due to escalated interest rates and construction costs. Embry noted the need for on-campus housing is significant. “Affordable housing is one of our students’ greatest challenges and the demand for on-campus housing has far outpaced the availability for the past two years.”
Dogwood Hall is currently 80% preleased for fall 2023, compared to 53% at the same time last year. An additional 86 students are currently interested in housing. The waitlist for housing is expected to far exceed the availability for the fall semester.
John McMorran with Lewis Architects and Engineers presented renderings of the proposed project to the Board.
Embry added that building an adjacent facility with 166 beds provides desperately needed affordable on-campus housing for students, and allows the College to scale Dogwood Hall back to the original 180 beds it was built to accommodate.
