Saturday, March 9, 2002
It won't be your typical college residence hall.
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- The Mercer County Industrial Development Authority will help Thiel College build a new dormitory to house 100 students.
The agency will lend its tax-free financing status to the college so it can secure low-interest financing on the $3.5 million project.
It won't be a typical college dormitory, said Rich Rugen, Thiel vice president of administrative services.
He told the authority Friday that the building, to be erected on the site of two former fraternity houses on Roy Johnson Drive, will have two separate wings joined by a common building housing a computer lab, a Center for Greek Life, a Center for English as a Second Language, a resident director's apartment and other facilities.
Each two-story wing will have 10 apartments, each housing five students. Each apartment will have three single rooms and one double room, Rugen said.
Growing enrollment: Thiel, with 1,200 students, is growing and needs more resident housing, and building this hall is part of the college's master development plan, he said.
The project will create four new jobs but help Thiel retain 215 existing full-time positions.
The authority will hold a public hearing on the project at 10 a.m. March 28 in the Mercer County Courthouse.
The county commissioners and the state Department of Community and Economic Development must also approve the project's tax-exempt status.
The total project cost is $3,517,500 with Thiel putting in just $17,500 as equity.