Missouri Southern has begun the early stages of construction on the new university dorms. The dorms will be located behind the apartment complexes on the northern edge of campus.

The actual construction of the dorms may start as early as the end of the year. The goal is to have the building completed by Fall 2021.

The Lion Pride Tuition is attracting more and more students to the university. With the increasing number of students and the upkeep of the older buildings on campus, there is a need for newer buildings to keep up with the standards for what students want, said Josh Doak, director of residence life.

The building will be four stories high with 304 bed spaces. Doak describes it as “a hybrid building.” The interior corridor will feature traditional rooms that house two people. On both ends of the building, there will be the semi-suites with individual bedrooms.

Instead of having individual bathrooms, there will be Jack and Jill bathrooms to save space.

According to Doak, the new dorms will offer new features to better suit student life.

“As far as future outlook… What is great about this building is that we are also incorporating programming space with actual study rooms that you don’t have in Blaine. It’ll have a learning center, so if you want to bring a tutor on campus, we actually have a space for it.” said Doak.

There will be laundry rooms in each wing of the dorms, so students won’t have to walk to the student life center. However, it will still ensure opportunities to come out of the room and engage with other students.

For students who have experienced Wi-Fi problems, the new dorms will include a plug-in feature which will speed up the Wi-Fi. This will benefit students who hate lagging internet connection.

Ceiling fans are commonplace in the Quads, but there will also be fans installed in the traditional and semi-suite rooms of the new dorm facility. According to Doak, this will be highly appreciated by students on campus.

The new dorms will give students a wider option of living spaces that they might not have had before.

“We used to have single rooms in Blaine and McCormick, and we’ll probably start reintroducing those next year,” said Doak. “Once that building [new dorms] is done, we may just make those all a really affordable private room. Just to give a more cost-effective option.”

A sand volleyball court is also a new feature. For the construction of the Quads, the old sand volleyball court had to be removed from campus. There has been a desire to put the court back, however the right spot was never found until now.

“We are creating that opportunity for students to come and help them academically and also on a more social aspect as well,” said Doak.