Lakeview Hall opens to first-year students on August 22

The South Housing residential complex on Furman University’s campus has served as home to the entering first-year class of students for decades. For the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, something brand new is about to open.

Lakeview Hall, the new, $27.6 million residence hall in the South Housing First-Year Student Village, opens August 22, when the building’s 210 beds fill with first-year students. It will be an exciting time for the new residents, and for Ron Thompson, associate dean of students and director of Housing and Residence Life. He has overseen the ongoing renovations at SoHo since 2022, and the opening of Lakeview has put a little more skip in his step.

“This design has truly informed how we have and will build living spaces on campus,” Thompson said. “Every residence hall will soon have the features that make Lakeview state-of-the-art as we continue to listen to students when it comes to what they need and where they live.”

That includes pod-style bathrooms which provides for privacy and ease of use, ADA-compliant rooms with doorbells that alert students who have visual or hearing impairments to emergencies and people at their door, large windows to experience campus from every angle, quiet study spaces, and common areas built with socialization in mind.

It also brings resources right to their front doors – literally. Starting with move-in day, the Center for Interpersonal Connections (CIC) will have their offices on the first floor of Lakeview alongside students. The CIC mission is to offer intentional engagement with globally diverse populations to promote a thriving community in the new and challenging environment that is college.

“This is a place where we cultivate belonging, and students knowing they belong at Furman from the beginning of their journey increases their chances of longevity here,” said Franklin Ellis, associate dean and director of the CIC.

An aerial view of the new Lakeview Hall and South Housing on Thursday, August 1, 2024. Photo by Nathan Gray, Furman University.

That beginning includes access to the CIC during regular business hours as well as a main-level laundry facility right off the main entrance, a full kitchen in the center of the foyer where students can cook and share meals together as well as get culinary tips from regular pop-ups with Furman’s Bon Appetit catering staff, and floor to ceiling windows in common areas that encourage students to become one with the Furman community and the Furman experience.

“If students are comfortable where they live this first year, we believe they will be more engaged with the rest of the campus their entire time at Furman,” Thompson said.

Renovations to the rest of South Housing is in progress and is expected to be completed by August 2025 and will bring first-year student housing to a total of 718 beds. Renovations to Poteat and McGlothlin Halls are expected to be completed by December 2024. Work to Manly and Geer Halls will begin January 2025 and finish August 2025. The project will also include demolition of Blackwell Hall starting in May 2025.