Students living in Harnwell College House may not recognize their new home come move-in day in August 2006.
Since President Gutmann's $106.5 million high-rise renovation program was approved earlier this month, construction began during Senior Week in the vacated rooms of Harnwell.
Right now, workers are laboring "very aggressively" to finish demolishing the floors in the kitchens and bathrooms in order to replace them with new ones, said Darren Berger, director of Housing and Conference Services.
75 percent of the kitchen and bathroom floors and 80 percent of the plumbing have been torn out, and Berger said he expects the demolition process to be completed by early next week.
While the plan for this summer is restricted to eights floors in Harnwell, all three buildings, including Harrison and Hamilton College Houses are set to be completely revamped by the end of August 2009.
Currently, major renovations include rebuilding the kitchen and bathroom floors as well as replacing the heating and air conditioning ventilation pipes, which have not been touched since they were first installed almost 40 years ago.
Though repairs were done over the last four summers to the buildings' concrete and windows ‹¨« which were essentially falling apart, according to Berger ‹¨« this is the first time that the University has had enough money to take such a big step at renovating the high rises.
The $106.5 million is coming out of operating funds as opposed to Penn's endowment fund, according to Executive Vice President Craig Carnaroli.
While officials cannot make precise predictions of what will pan out over the next four years, they expect construction to remain within the allocated budget.
"We are dealing with a volatile construction environment," Carnaroli said, but added he was confident in the cost projection.
Even though these renovations are expensive, officials are willing to foot the bill.
"We are always looking at the viability of all of our housing stock," said Marie Witt, Vice President for Business Services. "We know [it] is aging."
Officials were especially motivated to renovate after hearing "significantly positive" feedback to slight changes that were made in Harnwell last summer, Witt added.
Work was done in the summer of 2005 to the first four floors of Harnwell, where the bathroom and kitchen floors were replaced.
But a large number of students, not fortunate enough to benefit from the renovations, have been bombarding housing services with complaints due to excessive leaking and plumbing failures, Berger said.
Berger pointed out that especially in a high rise building, problems can run rampant when a pipe burst on a top floor may additionally affect the ten floors below it.
And with the promises of better and brighter buildings underway, students are eager for the renovations to be completed.
"The living conditions are horrendous in the high rises," said Wharton junior Melissa Hauptman, who will be living in soon-to-be Rodin College House in the fall of 2006. "The carpet [in my room] is ripped to shreds and the grime on the bathroom tiles is so thick, you couldn't burn it off."
Hauptman added that she is excited about the renovations, but is disappointed that it will take so long to finish. "I wish that they could finish before I graduate, but it's definitely a great plan."
