South Housing residence hall project delayed due to market factors

Early this spring, the university announced plans for a comprehensive renovation of South Housing that will include building a new residence hall and updating four others in the complex devoted to first-year students. In February, a ceremonial ground breaking was held as the first phase of this project. However, due to the rising cost of materials and issues relating to the availability of subcontractors, the start of construction will be delayed until Spring 2023.

“While we remain excited about and fully committed to this project, we recently received information from the builder that has resulted in a delay of the start of construction originally slated for this summer,” said Connie Carson, vice president for student life, and Susan Maddux, vice president for finance and administration, in a campus wide message.

“These supply, cost and staffing issues remind us that these are challenging times in every sector of the economy. While we are disappointed with the delay, we are confident the project will ultimately be a success.”

In late May, Rodgers Builders, the construction management firm that was hired for the South Housing project, submitted an updated estimate that had increased significantly due to escalating prices for building materials across the country and issues related to subcontractors, including availability.

Over the course of the last several weeks, Furman facilities staff and Rodgers Builders worked to address subcontractor issues and were able to lower the estimated increased cost for the new hall, which can be covered under the university’s current borrowing capacity. However, these additional negotiations and the availability of materials means the builder can no longer meet the original deadline.

For these reasons, the project leaders concluded that the best option was to delay the start of construction until Spring 2023, rather than starting the project a few months and creating unnecessary disruption to incoming first-year students. The expected completion date of the new hall is now Summer 2024, and for the remaining phases, one year later.