Rising sophomores can look forward to an updated residence hall next year. Augustana College was recently granted $6.7 million from the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) to help cover Erickson’s renovation costs. Construction is currently happening and is set to continue over the next two summers. 

Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Admission, Kirk Anderson, has been working alongside Bush Constructions, a Davenport construction company, throughout the renovation process. According to Anderson, many improvements are being made to both the interior and exterior of the building. 

“That would include new bathrooms, new flooring, new windows, new HVAC and then painting all the exterior walls and in the individual rooms as well,” Anderson said. 

Construction is currently in the first phase, with Erickson’s C-wing closed due to ongoing renovations. Plans for the remaining two wings are set to occur over the next two years during the summer. According to Anderson, the money the college received from the IBHE will cover around a third of the project’s total cost. 

“Every so often the state will provide capital dollars for colleges in the state of Illinois, so it’s the decisions made by the state legislature basically. And it’s something that has been very useful to the college,” Anderson said. “I’ve been here for 8 years, and this is the first one that we’ve received from the state of Illinois since I’ve been here.” 

The first phase of the project is estimated to be done in August of this year. Due to the current First-Year class size, all wings of Erickson must be open by the time students return to campus in the fall. With Erickson at full capacity next year, all further renovations must be delayed until the summer of 2025.

“We’re starting renovations right now in the first phase and going all the way through the beginning or the middle of August,” Anderson said. “When students move out at the end of May, we’re going to jump in right away and try to complete all the renovations necessary, so when students come back in August they’ll have a place to stay. The fall goes as planned. That [will] happen over the next few summers.”

The current state of the building is causing some issues for its current sophomore residents. Sophomore Chloe Rittenhouse currently lives in Erickson. 

“It’s a little run down. It’s old, you know,” Rittenhouse said. “There have been some incidents and a few [leaks],” Rittenhouse said. 

Luckily, Erickson’s construction is currently located on the opposite side from where the residents live. Sophomore Paige Beggs also lives in Erickson and has not been impacted by the construction happening in C-wing. 

“I live in D-wing and construction is in C-wing, so I’m on the opposite side of the building. I don’t hear anything if they’re working,” Beggs said.