Three residence halls in the Governors Village complex will be torn down in early October to make way for three new residence halls that should be ready for UNC Asheville students in the fall of 2003.

To celebrate the event, UNCA’s Alumni Association is holding a Governors Village Hard Hat Party for former residents to say good-bye to their home-away-from-home. The party, to be held from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26 in the Governors Village courtyard, includes special recognition for Alice Wutschel, former dean of women students. Architects plans for the new residence halls will be on view. For more information, call 828/251-6512 or e-mail: <alumni@unca.edu>.

The buildings coming down -- Swain, Aycock and Craig -- were among the first built at UNCA and have been home to some 80 students a semester since they were completed in 1967. "It is cost prohibitive to renovate these buildings. The rooms are very small, they lack air conditioning, and the solid masonry construction makes it very difficult to provide Internet connections. The new buildings will meet our students’ academic and social needs," said Randy Williams, UNCA facilities construction engineer.

Cost of the project is estimated at $11.5 million for design, construction and landscaping. The project will be paid for through housing fees, which is the usual manner for funding residence hall construction in the UNC system. Funding will not come from the recent bond referendum.

The residence halls will house 185 beds, increasing on-campus housing by 105 beds. On-campus housing has been a premium for several years, even with the construction of South Ridge and West Ridge residence halls over the past five years.

The architectural firm for the project is Walter Robbs Callahan Pierce of Winston-Salem. The firm has done extensive residence hall work at a number of universities, including Wake Forest.