• Six-story, 348-bed facility is first new residence hall since 1994
• Four and six-person suites represent third on-campus residence option for students
• More than 80 percent of all undergraduates now reside on campus – the highest percentage of resident students among all colleges and universities in Providence

Providence, RI – Providence College dedicated a new suite-style residence hall on Monday, September 13, 2004. Located on the East Campus, Suites Hall is a six-story, 348-bed facility featuring suite accommodations that was constructed at a cost of approximately $20 million. With the addition of this new residence facility, the College will achieve its strategic goal of providing on-campus housing for a significant majority of undergraduates.

Some 84 percent of non-commuter students now reside on campus – believed to be the highest percentage of resident students among all colleges and universities in Providence.

Suites Hall is the College’s fifteenth residence facility and – along with existing traditional residence hall and apartment-style accommodations – offers a new on-campus residence option for students. In suite-style living, students share two-person bedrooms in four or six person pods. Each group of students shares common living/lounge quarters. A sitting area with an adjacent study lounge also is located in the lobby on each level.

Together with the soon-to-open Smith Center for the Arts (October 29, 2004 dedication scheduled), Fennell Hall (residence facility), and Howley Hall (academic department and faculty offices), Suites Hall creates a new outdoor “Quad” for student gatherings and recreation.

In the 1993-94 academic year, some 1,400 Providence College students lived in off-campus apartments in the Smith Hill/Elmhurst neighborhood. Suites Hall is the third new residence facility to be constructed on-campus since then. Two on-campus apartment buildings – accommodating approximately 500 upperclassmen – opened in September 1994.

These new facilities have reduced the number of Providence College students living off-campus (excluding commuters who live at home) by almost 60 percent. While the number of apartments available to students in the Smith Hill/Elmhurst area has remained fairly constant in the last decade, fewer than 600 Providence College students currently occupy neighborhood rentals, representing less than 30 percent of available student rentals in the area. In recent years, students from a number of other local colleges and universities have taken up residence in the neighborhood most closely associated with Providence College .

Construction for the new facility began in May 2003 and was completed in August 2004. It is one of several building and renovation projects the College has undertaken in recent years that have transformed the physical appearance of the campus and significantly enhanced the student life experience.

The construction of St. Dominic Chapel provided the Providence College community with a central gathering point for worship and campus ministry activities. The Raymond Hall dining facility has been completely refurbished into a food-court style eatery with restaurant seating and an eclectic menu. Renovations in Slavin Center (student union) created an all-new office complex for Career Services operations; McPhail’s, a student entertainment center; and improved meeting spaces for student clubs. The Phillips Memorial Library has been refurbished to provide more private and group study areas and to accommodate student use of the Internet for research. Construction of a new turf field for varsity and intramural athletics is currently underway, with a projected completion date at the end of October 2004.  

-- 30 --