It’s out with the old and in with the new on the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s main campus as construction on a new residential building has begun. The new building will be one of several to eventually replace the university’s traditional shared-room apartments (dubbed the ‘Trads’ by students). The building will be primarily for first and second-year students to live in and is set to open by the fall semester of 2024, according to a press release issued by the university.
Goodbye Trads:
Gail Sims-Aubert, Interim Vice Chancellor of University Inclusivity and Student Affairs, said that the University has known for some time that phasing out the Trads is something it wanted to achieve.
“The traditional shared-bedroom apartment buildings (Trads) have been slated for replacement, so a strategy was formulated to provide a ‘like’ option,” she said. According to Sims-Aubert, the true planning to replace the Trads began about four to five years ago. The new building will mimic the setup of the shared-room apartments with four and two-person layouts.
It is not yet known which Trads specifically will be replaced by this new building, and the plan for the complete deconstruction of the buildings has yet to be determined, according to Sims-Aubert.
“As additional new bed spaces are built, an equal number of bed spaces in the Trads will be taken off-line until such a time that the Trads are no longer needed,” she said.
The Trads have been here, almost since the university’s creation. Constructed in 1970, the Trads were privately owned; the university bought them in 1980. They feature two-person and four-person floor plans with shared bedrooms. In addition, there are nine high-efficiency rooms (apartments where everything besides the bathroom is situated in one room) with a layout similar to a studio apartment. In total, the nine buildings can house 567 students. According to the university, the Trads have undergone numerous renovations and have outlived their usefulness.
The Trads have no communal space for the building as a whole and are accessed directly from the outside. Staircases lead up to the second story of the apartments.
It’s no secret on campus that the Trads are nearing the end of their life expectancy.
“The Trads do not have the best reputation,” said Mark Wanek, a freshman set to live there next year.
“The Trads have the reputation of being the oldest and most run-down,” said Allison Wieberdink, a junior who has lived in the Trads for two academic years. Wieberdink said that in her Trad, maintenance issues have included drainage problems, use of electrical outlets, heating, and consistent issues with the building’s washers and dryers.
“During the 21-22 school year, we also had some sort of animal (possibly a squirrel or bat) living in the ceiling above my roommate’s bed,” she said. “Other than that, for a couple of months during the winter, our outside light was out, right where the icy concrete steps are to leave our building.”
While Wanek and Wieberdink acknowledge the faults of living in the Trads, they say it’s not all bad news.
“I honestly don’t mind living in the Trads. It’s definitely not as nice as the private contempt but better than living in the freshmen dorms,” Wieberdink said.
Wanek said, “It will be an experience [living there] for sure. I am just glad to have a full-size fridge so I can make and store my own food.”
Construction and planning:
Since second-year students are the most likely to live in the shared-room apartments on campus, they will be the main focus of the new building.
“I believe that we will focus on the creation of a Sophomore Year Experience, which means that we will provide opportunities that would be of interest to those in their second year, such as education on topics like high-impact practices, work-based learning, personal money management, etc. The intent will be to provide knowledge/training that lends to the development of strong career readiness skills post-graduation,” Sims-Aubert said.
The new building will be able to house 200 students and, in addition to shared-room apartments, will feature community gathering spaces for the whole building – something that the Trads lack.
“Each floor has a pretty good-sized community lounge, and then a major lounge space, [and] laundry space, happen on the first floor at the entry sequence,” said architect Steve Srubas. These spaces are ideal for hosting events that would interest sophomore and freshman students, according to Sims-Aubert.
The $38 million project is funded by University Village Housing Inc. (UVHI), a non-profit group created to help manage housing projects and facilities on UWGB’s campus. Sims-Aubert explained that the non-profit sold bonds to pay for the project. Srubas is the architect of the project and said that budgeting was not an easy feat.
“The construction costs went kind of through the roof after COVID started settling out and the dollars for the project were way over budget, like significantly over budget,” Srubas said. “So, we went back to the drawing board.”
Srubas works for Berners Schober, the architectural firm working on this project. He explained that Berners Schober worked with Immel Construction pre-construction to estimate the overall cost and constructability of the project and continues to work together as construction progresses.
Changes were made in order to make the project more cost-efficient, including cutting out the inclusion of solar panels.
“The solar panels didn’t make the cut, but we left the infrastructure in place so they can purchase it later,” he said.
Srubas said Berners Schober worked in collaboration with both UVHI and UWGB to come up with the blueprints and design.
“The kind of the basis of design was a building we did down at UW Oshkosh about ten years ago called Horizon Village,” he explained.
According to UWO’s Department of Residence Life, the Horizon Village building offers both shared and private room apartments. In UWGB’s new building, each apartment will have shared bedroom spaces, a kitchen, a living room, and two toilet rooms, according to Srubas. According to a press release, the building will also feature air conditioning and improved ventilation systems.
Students’ reactions:
While some are excited to add this new addition, there will be inconveniences placed on students while the project is under construction. The building will be situated on the part of the main housing lot on campus, causing the lot to close until construction finishes. Many students now need to find other parking lots to use. One of the lots closest to the main housing lot is the Kress Events Center parking lot. Commuter students frequently use the lot thanks to its close proximity to the union and Mary Ann Cofrin Hall, but now countless on-campus students have moved to the lot as well.
Commuter student Sarah Hart explained that having to compete with on-campus residents for parking is cumbersome.
“This makes it extremely frustrating when I can’t find a place to park in the Kress parking lot because I don’t want to have to park super far away from where my schedule throughout the day takes place,” Hart said. “I’ll sometimes be late to my classes because I was trying to find parking.”
Hart said that there are plenty of other lots on campus that are often empty, but they’re at least a ten-minute walk from her classes, so the Kress is her best option as a commuter.
“There isn’t enough parking in convenient areas that are most frequently used by students,” Hart said.
On-campus students aren’t thrilled about the parking situation either.
“It is somewhat inconvenient because I have to walk further to get to my dorm after finding parking. I always park in the Kress lot, which can be frustrating when I am bringing things into my dorm,” Wanek said.
Both Wanek and Hart stressed that while there isn’t an outright lack of parking on campus, convenient parking is a different story. While this is an inconvenience for students now, the university is planning on addressing the issue by expanding another lot. “We wiped out half of the parking lot, so as a trade-off, the east housing lot gets essentially doubled,” Srubas explained.
The east housing lot is located on Walter Way near the residential halls on Shaeffer Court.
Some students are excited about the new addition to campus; others say the university needs to focus on improving housing occupied by current students.
“If I’m being completely honest, I think the new building is a bit of an insult to the students who are already going to UWGB. I don’t live on campus, but I have plenty of friends who are currently living in the dorms and are having a lot of maintenance issues with their buildings or are frustrated with housing in general,” Hart said. Hart says the campus should instead focus on improving the buildings it already has.
“I think UWGB prioritizes freshmen/new to GB students over their already existing students, and that’s why their current buildings don’t get as much attention,” Wieberdink said. Despite this, Wieberdink said she likes the design of the new building and thinks it will be a good addition to the campus.
Some say that the campus could use an upgrade and that this building is it.
“I am in support of the new building; I think it will be a good addition to the campus because it will attract more potential students and modernize the campus,” Wanek said.
The most recent residential building created on campus was Keith Pamperin Hall, built in 2009, making this new project the first in over 12 years. Sims-Aubert stressed that students who live on campus past their sophomore year are most likely to live in the private-room contemporary apartments. Since the Trads are notorious for their upkeep, by slowly phasing them out, the university is hoping to improve the living experience of underclassmen on campus.
As with any other building on campus, the new building will not be exclusively limited to sophomores and freshmen, but those will be the primary groups choosing to live there.
“The Trads are way overdue for renovations or complete demolition […] I think the new building looks very cool and will be a nice addition to the campus,” Wieberdink said.
