Row Houses get significant summer upgrades

Sigma Nu is among the Row Houses receiving significant summer upgrades.
Sigma Nu is among the Row Houses receiving significant summer upgrades.

Returning students this year will see upgrades in residential facilities throughout campus, but especially in four Row Houses, as a result of summer renovations by Residential & Dining Enterprises (R&DE).

Mars, Sigma Nu, Roth and Durand – all upperclass residences located on Mayfield Avenue – underwent significant structural, electrical and plumbing upgrades over the summer. The buildings were given new enclosed stairwells; student room, bathroom and laundry updates; flooring repairs; exterior stucco work; roof and window repairs and replacement; and new decks, walkways and landscaping.

Also updated was Mirrielees House, which received new appliances, sofas, paint and carpet. Mirrielees is an upperclass apartment residence located on Escondido Road.

The Florence Moore complex on Mayfield Avenue, which underwent major renovations last summer, and Wilbur Hall on Escondido Road, which had its eight houses renovated over a four-year period, both received courtyard upgrades during the summer.

In the Manzanita Park neighborhood on the east side of campus, construction has begun on the first new undergraduate residence to be built in 20 years. The new Manzanita Park residence will complete the original plan for four communities on that site, joining Kimball, Castaño and Lantana.

The new residence will be home to 125 upperclass students beginning in the fall of 2015. The facility will feature singles and two-room doubles, community gathering spaces – including a large lounge with kitchenette – study spaces, seminar rooms and a computer cluster.

On the west side of campus, planning continues for two new houses in Lagunita Court, which is located on Santa Teresa Street. These residences will complement the historic nature of the current complex and will house an additional 216 students and two resident fellows.

In addition, R&DE recently opened a new graduate housing complex, the Kennedy Graduate Residences in Escondido Village. The Kennedy Graduate Residences house 435 students in four buildings of studio and two-bedroom apartments over the same ground space that previously accommodated 63 students. The new Donald Kennedy Commons building and a new outdoor plaza will be completed this fall.

While these major projects are R&DE’s most visible, the department also completed hundreds of other projects throughout campus, ranging from repainting rooms and updating furniture to replacing roofs and mechanical equipment.

“It takes the involvement and commitment of many, many people to accomplish so much in such a short period of time, and we are so glad to have such a great team of people involved across Residential & Dining Enterprises and the Stanford University Department of Project Management,” said Shirley Everett, senior associate vice provost for R&DE.

“Stanford is a very busy place in the summer, as we make the most of a short period of time to implement significant renovations in our student residences,” Everett said.