By the time all the construction is done, BYU-Hawaii officials estimate it will be able to house enough students to expand the population from the current 2,800 to 3,200. “It’s exciting to see campus gradually have new buildings. There are great students here,” Construction Director Robert Tippets said. “We want students to be safe and have a decent place to live.”Tippets said about the renovations to Hales 3 and 5, another story is being added to the previous two-story structures and the dorms will be changed into apartments. These apartments will have kitchenettes, allowing six to eight people to a unit. More natural ventilation will be utilized, and there will be more shading in the windows. They plan to be done with the renovations by September 2015. Students will be able to use the newly refurbished 472 rooms, he said. William Walter Arnett III, a vocal performance major and junior from Arizona, said these hales have been “long overdue.” Students agreed the hales have felt old to them, with a general unpleasantness and insect problems.Students living in the dorms this semester said it’s not hard to notice the construction being done between Hale 1 and Hale 7. When asked what they think of the construction, freshman students Emma Lance, an HTM major from Georgia, and Kili Ling, an ICS major from Washington, said they wake up every morning to the sounds of construction. “We live in Hale 7, and it’s really loud and really noisy,” said Lance.The construction and renovations of Hales 3 and 5 required changing the entire infrastructure of the hales, which he said is not generally done. Tippets said, “Not a lot of people could believe what we were doing.” He elaborated, explaining that future construction will be done on Hales 4 and 6 to renovate and update them into apartments. Construction will be done to the infrastructure of Hale 4, while Hale 6 will be completely torn down. The foundation of Hale 6 will have several feet of fill when it is rebuilt so it won’t flood as easily. This construction is planned to finish by Spring 2017.Uploaded Feb. 5, 2015
Writer: Rachel Reed
