The new University Housing and Food Services director has his hands full.

Bill Henwood, who replaced former director Amy Davenport, was approved for his position on Monday by the OU Board of Regents. He will be overseeing an $80 million renovation of Housing and Food Services that will last through 2007.

"University housing has not seen this growth in 30 years," Henwood said.

Henwood said his department is working on completely redoing the furniture layout in dorm rooms and turning Couch Cafeteria into what OU Food Services Director David Annis called a "food mall."

The renovations are being funded by an $80 million revenue bond that was awarded to OU this year. However, both the directors did not rule out students having to foot some of the bill.

Apartment Rising

The bond money will be split, with $50 million going to the construction of the OU Traditions Square. The first phase of construction is already under way. It is being erected just south of the OU School of Law. The second phase will begin in the summer of 2005. It will be built on the grounds of Yorkshire Apartments once they are demolished, said Michael Heaton, assistant to the director of University Housing and Food Services.

He said each phase will create 576 bedrooms in three layouts--four bedrooms with two bathrooms, two bedrooms with two bathrooms and two bedrooms with one bathroom--in 16 residential buildings.

Henwood described the new buildings as apartment-style university housing with separate areas for kitchens and living rooms.

Current residents of Yorkshire Apartments have already been notified of the construction and will be relocated, Henwood said.

The first phase will be ready for students to live in between 2005 and 2006.

The $30 million that is left will go to improvements to Couch Cafeteria and the OU dorms.

Freedom of Movement

Henwood said University Housing surveyed OU students and his department is redoing the furniture layout of all of the dorms to address the issues students brought up, an undertaking that could take up to six years, he said.

Henwood said students requested moveable furniture in the dorm rooms.

Housing and Food Services is planning on replacing all of the bolted furniture in the dorms with new lofted furniture.

In the new layout all of the furniture is moveable and the beds and desks are now lofted in a bunk bed style.

Students can request a bunk bed layout or a separate bed layout in which the beds are lifted off the ground and the desk and cabinet areas are placed under their beds. New tile floors and window blinds will also be installed, the bathrooms will be redone to incorporate more shelf space and the lighting in the rooms will be improved, Henwood said.

He said incoming students will be able to request any type of layout they desire.

Many improvements are still under review, Henwood said.

"We are just embarking. There are still many unanswered questions," he said.

One of those questions is what to do with the students who will be living in the dorms when the renovations take place.

"I won't say there won't be a time in the process where we have to move people," Henwood said.

However, a few of the improvements have already been made, like digital monitors for the air units in the dorms, he said.

Henwood said the earliest someone could move into a renovated dorm is in fall 2005. He said there will be some differentiation in price compared to living in one of the unrenovated rooms.
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