Nicholls has received approval to proceed with the privatized housing project, which is expected to open for occupancy in August 2003. The University is in the process of releasing requests for proposals to developers.
“We already have board approval to proceed with this process but part of that approval requires Nicholls to go back to the governing board and have them approve the developer we wish to go with,” Michael Davis, assistant vice president for business affairs for procurement and physical plant operations, said.
Nicholls is releasing the request for proposals (RFP) to local, state and national companies. The proposals will be opened on Dec. 5 and an evaluation team will be assembled.
Nicholls plans to make a recommendation to the board by Dec. 20 about the developer they intend to sign with. The board is tentatively scheduled to meet on Jan. 10 to make the decision.
When the developer is approved, Nicholls will enter into a land lease with the developer who will plan, construct, maintain and operate the housing project. According to Davis, the company will finance the project themselves, and students will rent rooms from the developers. The company will pay the University for being located on campus.
“It (this process) gives us the ability to quickly improve residential accommodations for students,” Davis said. It will now give students a choice between the traditional type of student housing and the latest in components.”
Construction will probably begin sometime in February with the ultimate goal of having them open for occupancy in August 2003.
“We were told by Southeastern that from the day of groundbreaking to opening, it (their privatized housing construction) took 156 days,” Eugene Dial, vice president of student affairs, said.
The RFP will outline to companies exactly what criteria the evaluation team will be judging their proposal on and how many points will be assigned to each category. Each member of the team will independently evaluate each proposal. All points will be totaled, and the developer with the highest number of points will be recommended to the board.
The evaluation team will include representatives from the staff, students, Nicholls’ system’s office in Baton Rouge, the Board of Regents and facility planning in Baton Rouge.
The setup of the apartment-style housing will all depend on the particular company’s design and what they can afford to build. Each company will assemble a design team that will submit drawings on what the complex would look like.
“That’s the creativeness in submitting their proposals on the design, so we really don’t have a good idea of what it will look like right now,” Davis said. “Each one will be trying to design something that will catch our attention, so you’ll see some very nice designs.”
According to Dial, the RFP will include student suggestions as background information, so when developers put their project plan together, it will reflect the needs and wants of students. Davis said residential services conducted a survey, and students are in favor of going toward apartment-style living.
The proposals will be judged on criteria such as design, rental rate, profitability, architectural style and features. One requirement is that it must match the architectural style of the campus. According to Dial, the proposals will also have to address security matters and will likely have controlled access comparable to a gated community with a card-swipe system.
“Their proposals have to address all security concerns. Anybody in the country that’s building apartment housing for students better address security, because it’s an issue across the country,” Dial said.
The facility is expected to house 350 beds set up in two and four bed apartments. The complex will be located on the seven-acre site behind Calecas, Millet-Zeringue and Long Halls along Bowie Road. This property is currently owned by the University.
The RFP will also include a survey of what Nicholls charges for residence hall rooms and what is charged for apartments in Thibodaux.
“They obviously are going to try to price their apartments so they’re very competitive and will draw students in,” Davis said.
He also said that the rates are likely to be a little more expensive than rent in residence halls, but the students have a choice.
“I think for some students, cost may be a factor, but that’s also why we’re trying to upgrade the residence halls we’re keeping,” Dial said.
Nicholls did research on the existing residence halls and are pursing further renovation of those halls. The University spent a considerate amount of money over the last two fiscal years in maintenance, and are in the process of selling bonds to do some additional work in residence halls.
“We’re going to make sure we keep certain buildings online so that students who can’t afford or don’t want to pay the rent of the apartment-style rooms can live in traditional campus housing,” Dial said.
According to Davis, the only residence hall not being touched is Long Hall, which still has community bathrooms. Davis said that as the University moves more into privatized housing, Long Hall will be taken out of service as a residence hall.
“Not only do we want to retire a couple of older buildings, we also think that there are students who live out in the greater community who would probably move on campus if we had apartment-style housing,” Dial said.
Dial said it is his understanding that students will get to choose who they want to room with. If they don’t know anyone, the University will try to pair them up with someone with similar interests. Initially, seniors would get first preference, so this will give students time to meet people they would want to room with.
University officials hope that privatized housing will help with retention and recruitment of students. They also hope that by housing more students closer to faculty, the library and computer labs, students will be more likely to utilize the University’s services.
“We see it as a win/win situation,” Dial said.