Tarleton State University has been has been attempting to finish construction on residence halls this semester to students are able to move in.

“Balfour Beatty Construction has been the builder on all five residence halls, with Heritage Hall being the first one to open in fall 2014. Integrity Hall opened fall 2015, Traditions South and the Honors opened Fall 2016. Traditions North will open spring 2017, one semester late,” Mike Leese, Associate VP for Student Life and Dean of Students, said.

According to Leese, some of the buildings opened, but still needed work done.

“Heritage was pretty well on time, Integrity opened on time, but with a lot still left to be done. Traditions South was occupied on time, with a lot of work to still be completed, and as you know, the Honors Hall students had to live in Integrity Hall for one week before moving into Honors, and then a lot of work still had to be done and some is still ongoing,” Leese said.

“Traditions North Students have been living in Bosque Crossing for the entire fall semester. Their things will be moved from Bosque Crossing to  Traditions  North during the fall to spring break and they will be able to move into Traditions North on  January 13 for the beginning of the spring semester.”

There were 340 students that were assigned to Traditions North that had to move to Bosque Crossing. 444 students got to move out of Integrity after one week and then to the Honors Hall. The only building that is not finished yet is Traditions  North.

“As for Traditions North, Traditions South and the Honors Hall, the two Traditions buildings were begun three months late after Tarleton had turned the site over to Balfour Beatty Construction, so the project never caught up from that point forward. The project, which does include the Honors Hall, has also had three different project directors, which has been somewhat of a challenge. We are also aware that Balfour Beatty Construction has had some problems obtaining enough workers for the Tarleton projects, with the large amount of construction going on in the Dallas/Fort  Worth metroplex.”

Landscaping will still need to be done, but that won’t stop the buildings from being occupied by the students who will reside there.

According to Leese, there have been complaints about the buildings not being completed.

“There have been from both students, and parents, especially with the hot water issues in the Honors Hall and the Traditions North students having to spend the fall semester in Bosque Crossing,” Leese said. “Once issues have been resolved, and there are always a number with new construction, students appear to be very happy with their new housing. I often refer to our new housing being more like living in a hotel, than a residence hall and certainly not a ‘dorm.’

“Tarleton will have met it’s goal of adding more than 2,000 beds to meet the needs of the two-year housing requirement, which was implemented to increase student retention and in turn, the graduation rates, and a rapidly growing first-year class. All five of the new halls were designed to enhance Tarleton’s ever increasing living/learning communities and to have dedicated a building for the Honors College.”