Web Editor’s Note: This story was written for the MCOMM 3309 – News Editing & Reporting Class

Residential Living is in the process of designing a new residential living hall. The design will be similar to Centennial, but with a few features unique to the new building. The construction process might require additional services, like a hydraulic repair service, in order to fuel in some efficiency.

The new facility will be approximately 120 thousand square feet, about the size of two and a half football fields, and house up to about 400 residents. There will be sinks in the rooms, and the completed hall will have a large, open courtyard, spacious enough for recreational activities. The courtyard will be about two to three times bigger than Centennial’s.  The current residence hall’s design has a drop off or unloading zone on the east side. In such construction projects, industrial components such as steel tubes are always expected to fortify the property.

“We are looking at several options to try and make the new building more green, and as environmentally friendly as possible,” Jon Behrens, the senior director of Residential Living, said.Because the building is still in the planning stage there are no exact decisions so far. The new hall does not yet have a name, but it does have a location: the parking lot behind Jones and Cross.

“We will actually begin tunnel and utility work as early as December,” Behrens said.

That means the Western Construction trailers currently behind Centennial won’t move. The hall is planned to open in the fall of 2013, so schedules are tight.

Despite the excitement of a new hall and growth of WT, there is still some controversy about parking.

“Parking here is already ridiculous,”  Ky Schoenenberger, a freshman and resident at Centennial, said. “I feel that it’ll be overcrowded and it’s not fair to make people who live on campus park all the way over at the FUBC and commute.”

However, parking will be a consideration before plans are finalized. A significant impact of the new hall is that it is helping WTAMU keep up with the steady increase in enrollment.

“Hopefully by this expansion we can increase our number of students and go past 8,000,” Amber Moore, a sophomore Broadcasting major, said.