SUNY New Paltz to hold grand opening for new residence hall

NEW PALTZ — The State University of New York at New Paltz will hold a grand opening ceremony for Lenape Hall, a new 238-bed residence hall, at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 10.

President Steven G. Poskanzer will begin the ceremony with opening remarks, followed by comments from Corinna Caracci, director of residence life. Representatives from both the architect and construction firms will be available for questions, as well as representatives from the campus planning and construction office, residence life and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York.

There will be four first-year-student living/learning communities that will be “clustered” on each floor of Lenape Hall, Caracci said. They will include the Honors Program, the Emerging Leaders Program, a first-year interest group of fine arts students, and a first-year interest group of B.S.D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathy) students.

“Each of these programs will give the students an opportunity to interact closely with their classmates outside of the classroom,” said Caracci. “These programs also help to ease the transition of first-year students to college life with the help of various types of support services.”

With the addition of Lenape Hall, SUNY New Paltz now has 13 residence halls on campus and a total of 2,800 beds available for student residents.

Lenape Hall, a 59,600-square-foot building, is fully air-conditioned and constructed with two types of rooms. Some are suite design, with bedrooms and large bathrooms located off a common living. The others are double/triples with a private bathroom. Students will have the choice of combining bedroom space for study/living space. This design is also attractive for professional summer conferences.

In addition, Lenape Hall has many lounges, a common kitchen, a meeting room/computer lab, fully equipped exercise room and bicycle storage. The building is located on a quiet site adjacent to the campus tennis courts and athletic fields, and the top floor has views of the Shawangunk Ridge.

The architect for the project is STV/Silver & Ziskind of New York City and the contractor is the Algonquin Construction Group. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York is the source of funding for the project. Total approximate cost for the project is $12.5 million.