Photo provided by Alison Bonsell, Director of Penn State Altoona Housing and Food Services
Spruce Hall is set to get a long awaited make over in the summer of 2017.
The modifications will include all new windows, window sills, curtains, paint, and hardwood flooring for each room. The main goal of these modifications, according to Alison Bonsell, Director of Penn State Altoona Housing Services, will be “to brighten it up because it’s a dark building…it’s dark in those rooms even when your lights are on”. Students can expect updated rooms to have lime green accent walls, corian window sills, and window shades that maintain privacy while still allowing sunlight in. Outside of individual rooms, the building’s hallways will be repainted and recarpeted.
The process will begin on May seventh, only two days after students move out. Housing crews will first remove all of the furniture from the building and store it offsite. Then, on Monday May eighth, construction workers will begin their modifications. They hope to be done by the beginning of August, well before students move in for the 2017 fall semester.
A possible modification Spruce hall might be getting is Wi-Q. This would allow students to open their suite and bedroom doors with a swipe of their PSU ID card instead of keys. If this expense is approved by the University it will not only save Penn State money, but the students too. Rather than paying one hundred and fifty dollars for a new lock and key, students would only have to pay fifteen dollars to get a new PSU ID card in the event they lose their keys.
Similar plans for Maple hall to be redone were pushed to the summer of 2018 due to an asbestos problem. With the asbestos posing no harm to students currently living in Maple, housing services made the decision to put off the costly cleaning and remediation until next year.
The total cost of the Spruce Hall modification is still undetermined but it should not cause a raise in any tuition expenses since housing services are considered an “auxiliary service”. Funding for this project will come out of the housing fees students have already payed. Alison Bonsell stated “there’s a lot of money put into making sure the res halls are comfortable, that you guys like to live in them, that they look like they’re in this century”.
The University is due to receive the final bid of the cost by the end of the week.