Since 2024, Augustana’s sophomore dormitory, Erickson Residence Hall, has been undergoing renovations as a part of a three-year plan to transform the nearly 60-year-old building. Originally built in 1966, the college partnered with Bush Construction Company to update Erickson’s student wings, bathrooms and common areas.
As of late September, work has moved into the basement in preparation for the renovation of the dorm’s D-wing floors set for this summer. This is the final wing awaiting updates, with B-wing reopened for students this fall and C-wing work completed at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year.
Director of Resident Life Chris Beyer said Bush Construction is currently replacing the pipes in the ceiling of the basement and will continue work until the end of the school year. The goal is to have the entire Erickson building done by the middle of August 2026, he said.
“There might be a few lingering punch list things, like, for instance, this year they included a replacement of one of the courtyard entrances that happened after students had already arrived, that took about a week,” Beyer said. “The bulk of the work should be done before students move in next fall.”
On Oct. 7, Beyer sent an email to current Erickson D-wing residents alerting students of renovation plans over winter and summer break, stating no students would be allowed to remain in the wing’s rooms during this time, and would need to have alternative housing plans set. There were also identical notices placed on the wing residences’ doors.
This statement was the first notice residents have received of work plans this year. Sophomore Ashleigh Smith lives in Erickson’s C-wing and said she expected more transparency from Residential Life staff and students about the construction.
With the work ongoing, Smith said she has continued to experience noise disturbances, with buzzing drills regularly waking her up at 7 a.m. or disturbing her early morning studying.
“I’m just a little confused why everyone thought it was being renovated over the summer, and now it’s not,” Smith said. “…I was expecting to walk into a renovated building, and it’s not fully renovated.”
While the basement tables, chairs and couches remain, she said the downstairs space is very cramped, preventing students from fully utilizing the common area. However, Beyer said the basement has been boarded up like this before.
Last year, he said the other half of the space was boarded off to store furniture while other areas of the building were being renovated.
“I think from our perspective, the amount of lounge space that was being lost was what we were accustomed to from the last two years,” Beyer said. “So we didn’t specifically [send out] a notification to students about this.”
Junior Karla Collazo is a community advisor for Erickson said she was informed by Erickson Area Coordinator Andrea Guzman about the basement plans before work began. To help students navigate the construction, Collazo said she answered student questions about the basement during one-on-one meetings with her C-wing residents.
She also noted that the basement has been experiencing issues over the past few years, such as water damage.
“This is why you can see lots of brown spots on the ceiling, lots of buckets that are placed [below] the pipes, because it leaks,” Collazo said. “So it would be really nice for students to have a better place to hang out.”
While renovations in the basement currently concern D-wing preparations and not the common area itself, Beyer said he hopes the space will eventually be modernized for students.
“The goal is that, in the long haul, this will be a better, more usable space… a better social and study environment for students,” Beyer said.
Beyer said in the email sent to D-wing residents on Oct. 7 that the next part of the renovation project. During winter break, the hallway floor will be taken off, leaving the floor as just cement until fall 2026, when D-Wing should be finished.
