Students at the College of William and Mary will enjoy 12 new buildings and an expansion to the Sadler Center this year.
The college poured a total of $33.8 million in construction and renovations for the Sadler expansion, nine fraternity houses and two independent student houses — all of which are now open — and a Community Center that is still under construction.
Fraternity and Student Houses
Now, the 11 houses — nine fraternity houses and two houses not affiliated with a fraternity — each have room for 17 students and represent three different floor plans. Assistant Director for Sorority and Fraternity Housing Shylan Scott said the houses had a few minor differences.
Some of those differences are noticeable, like the varying size of the living spaces, the inter-connectivity of the rooms, the size of the kitchen or how only one of the floor plans has student rooms on the first floor.
Then there are other differences — differences that aren’t so noticeable. Like the slight fluctuation in the size of the front porches, how one facade is just a little different from the next or how each foyer has its own finishing touch.
“We wanted each of the houses to have its own personality,” Scott said.
Wayne Boy, director of planning, design and construction at W&M, said the project also boasts some energy-efficient features. Each house has motion-activated interior lights, a layer of insulation beneath the slab foundation and low-flow plumbing fixtures.
“These are about as efficient homes as you will ever see,” Boy said.
Fraternities eligible for new housing conducted presentations to a panel recommended by the Inter Fraternity Council. That panel decided who would occupy the new houses that cost the college $25.8 million.
According to the W&M website, the fraternities occupying the new buildings this semester will be Kappa Sigma, Kappa Alpha, Alpha Tau Omega, Delta Chi, Sigma Pi, Sigma Chi, Delta Phi, Beta Theta Pi and Kappa Delta Rho.
Sadler Center
Construction on an $8 million project to expand the Sadler Center is also complete and available to students. The project added 12,000 square feet to the building and mainly consists of new dining facilities.
As it turns out, a long list of new dining options are available to students this year. A Mongolian grill, late night meals (8 p.m. to midnight), larger salad bar, new pizza place, new grill menu and dessert stations are all up and running.
There’s also a food line all to itself in the back of the building that Matt Moss, director of dining, took a moment to point out. It’s full of cupcakes, green beans, apples, different types of hummus and a salad bar.
“As you move through here you’ll notice that everything that’s put out is for students with special diets,” Moss said. “Everything written in red is gluten-free. We also have vegan and vegetarian options.”
The building, now plugged into the school’s central chiller plant, also has 300 additional seats, 7,200 feet of renovated space in the existing building and dessert stations.
Community Center
When it opens later this year, the community center will house staffing, custodial services, vending and building support. It will also provide storage for Greek chapters without housing and meeting space.
