A major new UC Riverside student-housing complex marked a significant construction milestone with crews placing a steel beam on top of the new building.
The Aug. 23 topping-out ceremony for the Dundee Residence Hall and Glasgow Dining Hall project also marked a midway point for completion of the project, celebrated by campus leaders and others involved in the construction and planning.
The project consists of three buildings: a 51,000-square-foot, two-story dining facility; and two seven-story residence halls. The residence hall will accommodate 760 beds, while the dining hall will seat 830 diners.
A steel beam, which was signed by those at the ceremony and included a small, potted cypress tree and an American flag, was hoisted to the top of the frame of the Glasgow Dining Hall. The tree and flag are customary for topping-out ceremonies.
Construction began in December and is expected to be completed in fall 2020.
“We’re way ahead of schedule,” said Tim Stephens, the project architect and a principal with the planning firm SCB. “Everybody’s feeling good about the project.”
The new housing is being built on 4.5 acres at the north end of campus next to the Aberdeen-Inverness Residence Hall and features a similar, complementary design.
The project, catering primarily toward freshmen, is aimed at helping the campus meet a UC goal of expanding housing to meet the growing student population.
“I think this is a good step toward the campus meeting that goal,” said Thomas Toepfer, UCR’s interim director of Real Estate Services.
It’s only the first step in UCR’s student housing plans. A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for October to mark the start of the North District project, which will include a student-housing complex, athletic fields, and multipurpose space.
It will be built at the site of the shuttered Canyon Crest Family Student Housing, where demolition work began in July.
The first phase of the project, which should open in fall 2021, will include about 1,500 new beds in 400 apartment-style units similar to those at Glen Mor.
