MELISSA HALTERMAN/Arizona Summer Wildcat La Aldea is the new on-campus residence hall for graduate students. La Aldea replaces Christopher City, which was condemned in 2000, as the only university-owned graduate residence hall.

After new dorms for undergrads and graduates, UA plans family housing

After years of fluctuations in residence hall availability, the UA is opening a new residence hall and graduate housing complex in order to meet student needs.

Villa del Puente, scheduled to open by the end of August, is a 300-student coed hall with double-occupancy rooms, community bathrooms, a few suite-style rooms and an interior courtyard, said Pam Obando, associate director of residence life for marketing.

Villa del Puente is made up of two buildings with split-occupancy between freshmen and returning students. The 50 percent occupancy of returning students is the most allowed under the current housing cap.

The main entrance to the hall at North Highland Avenue and East Sixth Street is located on the smaller building, and a south-side bridge connects the second and third stories. The first floor will house a student union food service, which probably won't open until the second semester but will be open to the public as well as residents, Obando said.

While the new residence hall will serve to help undergraduate student needs, the UA will also

unveil a new option for graduate students on campus this fall.

La Aldea, previously named Euclid Housing during the first stages of construction, will replace Christopher City, the UA's graduate housing complex that was closed over three years ago. Residents were forced out of Christopher City in late spring 2000 when toxic mold and asbestos were found on the property.

La Aldea, which will cost $18 million in construction, is a public and private project between the UA and Ambling Companies. The university has leased the land to Ambling, which is building the structure and will lease the individual units.

It is something we've committed to doing, not only from a university point of view but also for students. - Jim Van Arsdel UA Residence Life Director

When completed, La Aldea will have 145 one, two and four-bedroom units and four courtyards.

"We have 323 beds and we will have all but 97 completed," said Elizabeth Montano, La Aldea property manager, to the UA News service. "The remaining beds will be ready sometime in the beginning of September."

La Aldea will house graduate students, including married couples, but unlike Christopher City, the complex will not allow children or pets.

However, Van Arsdel said Residence Life is dedicated to providing family housing, and is looking into other possibilities.

"It is something we've committed to doing, not only from a university point of view but also for students," Van Arsdel said. "As of yet, we have no solution, especially in a community where the housing market is so tough."

The new residence hall openings have helped reduce the number of students on dorm waiting lists down from 300, but the situation will still be tight.

"Probably the best way to characterize it at this particular moment is that we are certainly going to be full for the fall semester," said Jim Van Arsdel, director of residence life and university housing.

The number of residents is "changing day by day" and Van Arsdel expects some students to be in temporary housing, though this will not affect as many as in 2001.

Next year, two additional residence halls are slated to open, and so far, construction of both of them is on time, Van Arsdel said.

JACOB KONST/Arizona Summer Wildcat Villa Del Puente is the newest undergraduate housing on campus. Villa Del Puente can accommodate 300 students.

Just north of del Puente will be Posada San Pedro and north of that, Puebla de la Cinega. The two one-building halls will each house 238 students, Obando said.

Although 776 new spots will open between this year and next, officials from UA Residence Life have not decided on the fate of Hopi and Sierra, two halls that the department has talked about closing for over a year.

Hopi Lodge, the one-story hall on East Fourth Street, will likely be razed to make room for a more space-efficient building. The hall's sister building, Papago Lodge, was demolished for the construction of Colonia de la Paz Residence Hall in 1995.

Last summer, Van Arsdel told the Wildcat that Sierra Hall, the dorm beneath the east side of Arizona Stadium was not a "quality living space" and that the department wanted to discontinue its use.

"That has long been something we've wanted to do," said Van Arsdel about the UA's plans for Hopi and Sierra. "I don't expect it to happen any time soon. I'd have to say right now it is too early to talk about it · It is a good 150 spaces, and we need those spaces."

Depending on how crowded the residence halls are this school year and in the future, UA Residence Life could also lift the housing cap that restricts students from living in the dorms for more than four semesters and limits sophomores in the halls to 1,000, officials said.

However, Obando said it's hard to tell if or when that will happen.

"I don't know," Obando said. "We no longer have Palm Shadows, so we have to see what the demand is."

This school year, the UA decided not to renew its lease with Palm Shadows for the 300-person complex, leaving Corleone, Sky View and Babcock Inn as the only Residence Life apartments. Last summer, Van Arsdel told the Wildcat that the UA planned on moving away from the "expensive" and "unpopular" apartments, but the UA is not close to a decision on that now, according to officials.

"We currently lease the apartments," Van Arsdel said. "From time to time leases will expire, and basically there has been no decision made."

The lease for Sky View, which houses 244 students, will end this year.

"My understanding is that at the end of this year, a decision will need to be made," Van Arsdel said.

While he is unsure exactly when the next dorm would be built, Van Arsdel said construction possibly could begin in 2007.

Potential sites include the Zone 1 parking lot south of Coronado Residence Hall or the parking lot south of Apache-Santa Cruz.

"The short answer is ĪDo I know?' No I don't," Van Arsdel said. "In the University's Capital Improvement Plan, there is one anticipating beginning construction in 2007. It is simply put there as a place holder and doesn't mean we've committed to it."

The UA has also talked about the possibility of providing faculty housing, but that is not as important as student housing right now, officials said.

"We're hoping that out there that's a possibility," Van Arsdel said. "It is not a priority right now. Student housing is a much higher priority."