NEWS

New dorm at College at Brockport will be at a cheaper price

James Goodman
@goodman_dandc

A new residence hall has been announced for The College at Brockport that is expected to be built at a lower cost and on a faster timetable than how dorms are traditionally constructed in the State University of New York system.

Artist's rendering of the planned new dorm at the College at Brockport.

The four-story dorm, announced Friday, is projected to have a total cost of $23.8 million, with $21 million going for construction and the rest for administrative-related costs for this project.

Construction of the new residence hall — on vacant land along New Campus Drive between Allen Hall and campus town homes — will begin in May and be completed in the summer of 2018. It will have 256 beds.

A proposal by Purcell Construction Corp., based in Watertown, was selected for the project.

Because of a change in how the contractor was selected, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York expects to save in the $8 million range in construction costs.

"We are giving the bidder direction on the budget and the basic concept of what the college wants to build," said Rob Ryan, who is the Dormitory Authority's director of construction and operations for Western New York.

For about the past 15 years, said Ryan, the Dormitory Authority has used what is called a "Design, Bid, Build" process of putting out the desired design, and then seeking  proposals to build that design — without a price tag. The lowest bid is selected.

This process takes longer and has proved more expensive than what is expected from "Design Build."

Under the "Design Build" model used for Brockport's new dorm, the construction cost —  $21 million — was made public before proposals were accepted

State University of New York dorms typically run $120,000 to $130,000 per bed, according to Ryan. In the new Brockport dorm, the cost is estimated to be about $90,000 a bed.

By setting a construction ceiling at the outset, the companies submitting proposals are encouraged to find cheaper ways to build and avoid unnecessary amenities.

In considering the proposals, Purcell's was selected from three proposals. These companies were invited to submit proposals from a short list of 16, according to Ryan.

The selection process was done by the Dormitory Authority and College at Brockport officials.

College officials consulting with the Dormitory Authority and Gov. Cuomo's office came up with the idea of using the "Design Build" model. Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul attended Friday's announcement at The College at Brockport.

The college currently has 12 residence halls and one complex of town homes.

Last fall, the college had 6,375 full-time and 753 part-time undergraduates, along with 345 full-time and 770 part-time graduate students. Undergraduates are expected to live in the 13 college-supervised residences during at least their first two years.

Brockport, which is part of the SUNY system, has a plan to grow by about 400 students over the next three or four years.

In addition, five or six of the residence halls need renovations, said Craig Ross, associate director of residential life at the college.

Without the new dorm, the college would lose revenue because students would have to live off-campus during the renovations. The new dorm will provide "swing space," rooms to house students during renovations.

"If we close a building without swing space, we lose about $2 million," said Ross.

JGOODMAN@Gannett.com