Renovations to Manzanita Hall on ASU’s Tempe campus could begin as early as next semester.
Earlier this fall, some of the 572 students living in Manzanita Hall began moving out in preparation for renovations to the 43-year-old building.
Renovations have been discussed on and off since 2009 between ASU and American Campus Communities, a student housing designer.
Negotiations regarding Manzanita renovations are expected to wrap up in the next couple weeks between the ACC and ASU, said executive director of University Housing Michael Coakley, which means preliminary, non-invasive work could begin in the spring semester.
During these negotiations, both parties must sign a Memorandum of Understanding and a ground lease before ACC can begin work on the project.
The MOU outlines the relationship between the ACC and ASU for each particular project, while the ground lease spells out specific details for the project and gives the ACC the rights to work on the land.
The ACC is the exclusive developer of student housing for ASU on the Tempe campus. The ACC built both the Barrett, the Honors College dorms and Vista del Sol.
However, the renovations to Manzanita Hall are vastly different than other projects ACC has completed for ASU because, instead of building from scratch, these renovations involve gutting a standing structure.
“Manzanita is a different animal than Vista del Sol,” said Neil Calfee, ASU’s real estate development director. Calfee is also a lead negotiator in the ACC-ASU talks.
While students are still living in Manzanita Hall, Coakley said the goal is to have all of them relocated to other dorms around campus by the beginning of the spring semester.
This will be possible only if the MOU and ground lease are completed, as expected, in the next few weeks.
“It’s our goal to have the building ready for early stages of renovation, if at all possible,” Coakley said in an e-mail. However, if ASU and the ACC can’t come to terms in the next few weeks, it is possible students would continue to live in Manzanita next fall, Coakley said.
Reach the reporter at connor.radnovich@asu.edu
