Aurora University proposes new location for dorm

So many more freshmen are deciding to call Aurora University home that school officials say they must break ground on a new dorm this fall.

The university changed the location of a proposed $7 million residence hall from the north end of campus to the southwest side, and officials expect the new plan to receive approval from the city in the next couple weeks, university spokesman Dave Parro said.

The school switched the location after residents along Calumet Street expressed concerns students living in the dorm would park in their neighborhood.

"We were trying to lighten traffic on the north side of campus, but people didn't perceive it as that," university President Rebecca Sherrick said. "When it came to discussing the actual building, people turned out not to be comfortable with it. So rather than insist on that, we felt like it was better to go with the second site, which was more of a compromise."

Dorm plans call for between 105 and 116 beds, Sherrick said. The building would house some of the university's freshman class, which this year totals about 500 students, up from 188 in 2000, Parro said.

Aurora University's 2009 master plan identified all possible building sites, allowing the university to locate the dorm between the Institute for Collaboration and Watkins Hall on a site that already has been approved for construction, Parro said.

"I'm fully supportive of the new plan; I was not supporting the old plan," said Alderman Rick Lawrence, whose ward includes the university and residents of Calumet Street and other neighborhoods. "The plan that they're presenting now makes a lot more sense for them and for the neighborhood."

With the change in location, the university had to pay for another engineering review, Parro said. But project costs are expected to remain around $7 million because utilities may be slightly less expensive at the new site.

Planning commission Chairman Bill Donnell said he toured the new site Wednesday afternoon before the commission was set to discuss the dorm plan.

"It looks like Aurora University listened to the concerns of neighbors and moved the dorm closer to a large parking lot," Donnell said.

The university hopes to break ground on the dorm by Nov. 1.