Danielle Navarro
Staff Writer
In fall semester 377 lucky students will have the chance to engage in a new housing experience.
The new residence hall that has been under construction since summer 2011 is expected to change the way people view the University of La Verne.
“The Campus Center was really transformative when it was finished,” Chip West, senior director of campus planning, said. “This building will be equal to or surpass that.”
The building has been named Vista La Verne and will be the largest building on campus when construction is finished.
Unlike the other residence halls on campus, the housing units inside Vista La Verne will be suites.
Each unit houses up to six students and contains two single rooms, two double rooms, a living room, and four private bathrooms.
“How it’s built is very unique,” Juan Regalado, director of student housing and residential education, said. “It’s more independent, contemporary living for college students.”
For students who have been staying at the Sheraton or living in rooms of three students each, these new living arrangements appear to be an upgrade.
Students will be able to use study rooms, computer labs, two elevators, trash rooms on every floor, and laundry rooms with new, state-of-the-art technology also on every floor.
“I think when students come in, they’re going to have a sense of, ‘Wow!’,” West said. “It’s a great project, and I’m hoping people really like it.”
The building will house a total of 377 students; 59 on the first floor with one resident assistant, and 106 with two RA’s each on the second, third, and fourth floors. Students will each have two dressers in their rooms, drawers in all of the bathrooms, and one large cabinet in the common area of each suite to store food or others supplies.
Vista La Verne also boasts top-notch security. In addition to their room key, every student living in the building will have one key card to get into the building itself, and another to get into their suite.
With all of these amenitiesV ista La Verne will also be more expensive to live in than the other dorms. However, Regalado and others did their best to make sure that the cost isn’t excessive.
“One thing we were mindful of was keeping the cost within reasonable range of the Oaks,“ Regalado said.
The introduction of this new residence hall means that the university will no longer have to rely on the Sheraton for housing. And because more students will be able to live on campus, there will be more involvement in on-campus activities.
“I think it is much-needed, “ C.J. Krickl, a psychology major, said. “I think students will benefit from it because it’s actually on campus, it’ll look amazing, and it’ll house more students. “
In these last six months leading up to its grand opening, there is much excitement throughout campus about Vista La Verne.
University employees that were involved in its planning praise it as a huge step forward, not only for the university, but for the city of La Verne.
“It’s very symbolic of where the university is right now,“ Regalado said. “There’s a lot of change going on, and this new dorm is very symbolic of that.“
Danielle Navarro can be reached at danielle.navarro@laverne.edu.
