Contractors continue to finish construction work on two new buildings in the West
Campus Apartments, while existing units in the complex receive upgrades in an effort
to provide and maintain quality residential facilities for Ferris State University
students.
Associate Vice President for Physical Plant Mike Hughes said that the construction will add about 60 beds to the university’s housing stock, as these four-bedroom units in the Finch Court neighborhood have been developed on property immediately south of the complex’s West Campus Community Center building.
“These apartments are progressing in an outstanding fashion,” Hughes said. “The first building is scheduled for post-construction cleaning, and installation of window treatments by the end of May.”
Hughes said that the second building is also progressing on schedule, and those units will be completed about three to four weeks after the first phase of construction concludes.
“The builders are putting on siding at this time, and cabinets are being installed,” Hughes said. “Work on the grounds nearby will follow, which includes paving, laying sod and landscaping.”
To accommodate additional resident vehicles in that neighborhood, 15 new parking spots will also be developed along Family Drive in the next few weeks.
The West Campus Apartments were developed in the mid-1990s, and Hughes said the university’s maintenance schedule for those properties includes new appliances, replacement of vanities in the bathrooms and the installation of higher-efficiency furnace units.
“The original construction has served for 20 years, and those buildings are due for upgrades,” Hughes said. “This level of investment is intended to keep our facilities up to proper standards.”
Ferris’s board of trustees approved funding for the remodeling work at its May 2016
meeting, and authorized the administration to move forward with construction services
for a new north-campus residence hall. That building will feature 350 to 400 beds,
at a cost not to exceed $28.15 million, and the new facility is scheduled to be ready
for occupancy as the Fall 2017 semester begins.
PHOTO CAPTION: Contractors are completing final exterior and interior construction on additional residential units in Ferris State University’s West Campus Apartments complex. Around 60 additional beds will be available to students when the Fall 2016 semester begins in August.