By Josh Siatkowski | Staff Writer
After $57.5 million of renovations and a year of construction, Honors students have moved back into the historic Alexander and Memorial Halls. But for the time being, it seems they will be sharing this space with a sizable team of construction workers.
The project revitalized the historic buildings of the Honors Residential College, added a connecting space between the two and created an upgraded entrance to Memorial Dining Hall.
Students have moved in, yet the buildings are still sprinkled with restrictive tape, construction workers and unfinished projects.
Among these are missing baseboards, furniture and glass panes for interior buildings. Some individual dorms are lacking window blinds, with others missing the window trim entirely. The elevators are still floored with plywood and missing ceiling tiles. Some students have also reported air conditioning and electrical issues.
Campus Living and Learning said in an email that the university is “working furiously” to complete the construction as soon as possible, but no date has been provided.
The biggest unfinished project is the cornerstone of the remodel: the Carona Family Commons. The commons – which is currently tarped off – is a connecting space that will improve access between the halls. It is named after John and Helen Carona, who gave a $5 million gift to be used toward the construction.
Construction Services Project Manager Nichole Bekken said that the commons will house a community kitchen, lounge areas and study pods. With the construction of the space, Alexander and Memorial are now connected on the second and third floors.
The buildings also received major upgrades. Bekken described the interior renovations of the dorms as a “gut and remodel.”
“We tore out 90 percent of the interior of the buildings,” Bekken said. “All HVAC, plumbing, electrical, networking and fire safety were replaced.”
Because Memorial and Alexander Halls were built in 1930 and 1941 respectively. As necessary as the upgrades were, designers still paid homage to the character of the historic buildings.
When possible, Bekken said the team stuck to structural upgrades and improved accessibility in the historic rooms.
“We definitely tried to keep as much of the charm as possible,” Bekken said, “For example, in the drawing room in Memorial, we didn’t do a lot… We tried to maintain the trim and decorative stuff as best we could.”
Las Vegas senior Aaron Friedlander has lived in the HRC for four years and serves as community leader. He noted the respect paid to the buildings’ most historic components.
“I was very pleased when I went on the tour,” Friedlander said. “They kept a lot of the HRC architecture, like the arches in the lobbies. They didn’t change the reading room and they didn’t change the chapel, which I was grateful for. The new space is super incredible, and new students will get to make so many memories in it.”
Allen and Dawson Residence Halls are undergoing $36.5 million in renovation this year and are both expected to be completed in July 2025.
Attention will then shift to Kokernot Hall for construction in May 2025, which is expected to finish in July 2026.
