'Signature' dorm design starts

Eastern has recently sold $21 million in bonds to fund the first residence hall built on campus in 40 years and plans have begun for the design of the building.

The dorm itself will be a four-story building with approximately 260 beds and suite-style residences with two or four bedroom layouts.

There will be one bath for each suite layout, along with a kitchen area and some storage. The parking for the dorm will be moved behind the building, maintaining the same number of spaces the lot currently has or possibly increasing them.

James Street, vice president of capital planning and facilities management, said this dorm is going to be different from the others on campus.

"We are looking for a signature building, which means we are establishing a new architectural look," Street said. "We're not trying to completely generate a whole new concept of residence hall, but bring a more modern look and get away from the halls that were built in the 1960s."

Street said the university is currently in phase two of three of designing the building. Phase A covered the conceptual design, where the plan was drawn using single-line diagrams. Phase B, the current phase, is the development of the design, where the layout is tied down more closely to how it will appear in contract drawings. Once that is completed, the design team will move on to Phase C, which is the actual preparation of contract documents for bids from contractors.

"It will go to bid probably sometime in the March-April time frame with the notion of getting it into contract in the late May-early June time frame," Street said. "Then you have about 12 months construction period, with move-in Fall of '13, giving us a month to clean up and move in furnishings."

A separate plan, running parallel to the building's construction, is being worked on for the demolition of the Brockton Apartments currently on the site of the new dorm, which must be completed before any construction can begin. However, Street said asbestos was used in the original construction of the apartments, and the demolition is on hold until the material can be safely removed.

 "They're safe, it wouldn't bother me to live there for a long period of time, but once you start to remove it, it can't be destroyed during the demolition process because there's the potential of releasing fibers, so we have to get all that out," Street said.

Street said the university is looking into using more environmentally-friendly building materials for the construction, including special bricks and concrete made with a by-product of combustion called fly dust that is more energy and environmentally friendly than their standard counterparts.

The cost of the building is being funded through the bonds process.

The sale took place in November, with the approved number of bonds being sold to an investment firm through Hilliard Lyons, the bond consultant firm Eastern works with when funding new buildings.

Bonds are sold to fund buildings classified as auxiliary buildings, or non-classroom, self-supporting buildings. Since these are not learning facilities, the state does not send aid to cover the cost of construction, like in the case of the new science building.

Debbie Newsom, vice president of financial affairs and treasurer, said the bond-selling process is similar to a mortgage on a house, involving larger amounts of money. After the investment firm purchases the bonds, the university pays them back on a payment plan, including interest, from the money generated by student housing payments. No money from tuition will be put into paying for the new dorm.

"We're building a residence hall that is supported by student fees, by the residence fees," Newsom said.

Newsom said Eastern's good credit rating allowed them to get a favorable interest rate.

"We got a good rating, so we were pleased," Newsom said. "We were able to issue these bonds at an average interest rate of about 3.7 percent, which is slightly lower than we thought we would have to do."

For the payment plan, Eastern will make two interest payments and one principle payment every year, which is paying off the actual bond opposed to interest rate. These payments will continue for 20 years, until the building is completely paid off.

"This will be paid for in, roughly, 2031," Newsom said.

The bonds sold act only as indicators of the university's debt. Newsom said they are not similar to purchasing stock in the company. The purchasing firms get no rights over the building or any other part of the university, this is just the method used to loan Eastern the funds necessary.

"Obviously, you or I could not go into a bank and say we want $21 million," Newsom said.

These will not be the only bonds Eastern will be paying off. In addition to the $21 million just sold, the university currently has $35 million in outstanding bonds. Newsom said that, while this number may seem high, it is a manageable number considering all of Eastern's assets.

"This will take it up to about $55 million," Newsom said. "That sounds like a lot, but it's actually not a huge amount because the way you measure that is looking at a bunch of ratios and if you're overextended. But we have total assets of $350 million."