Officials with Olds College hope to sign a memorandum of understanding with an as-yet unnamed company this week to build new residences at the college in time for classes in September 2014.
The current residences at Frank Grisdale Hall, which hold a capacity of 450 students, are 40 years old and beyond their useful lifespan, said Kathy Kimpton, vice-president of student and support services at Olds College. As a result, the residences will be mothballed once the new housing west of the current townhouses are constructed. Preliminary work on the new residences, which will house 450 students, should begin by the end of September.
Kimpton said since the residences at FGH no longer meet the needs of students on campus, the new residences will offer single-student rooms and an ensuite bathroom in each room. The college has worked with several consultants who provided suggestions on what can be done with FGH, but the college decided against upgrading those residences.
“(Students) are not appreciating what Frank Grisdale has to offer and we're not able to upgrade it. At the end of the day, we decided that the best option for this institution is to build new,” she said.
The college is currently assessing FGH's future once the new residences are constructed and students are moved there.
The college is partnering with an unnamed company to provide the first student residences in Alberta that will be designed, built, financed and operated privately. The college isn't spending any money to build the residences.
“What (the college) provides them with is a land-lease agreement, so it's on our property. And we also provide them with a bit of a guarantee that we will recruit for the residence to fill it,” Kimpton said.
The advantage to the college to allowing a private company to manage all aspects of the residences is it frees the college from ongoing operating costs.
“At the end of the day, we have a student housing complex on our property that will provide our students with the amenities that they're demanding, and that's going to help us in our enrolment efforts as well, because we are a boutique institution,” Kimpton said.
