FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Friday, April 7, 2006

Alfred State College Breaks Ground for Townhouse Complex

ALFRED, N.Y. – Dormitory Authority construction staff joined Alfred State College staff and local officials on Friday to break ground on a new $14.5 million town house complex – the first new campus housing since 1974.

The student housing complex will have six residential buildings and a common-area building. Students will be able to live there year-round.

Each suite-style apartment will have six single bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a living room and a full kitchen. The common-area building will have meeting rooms, a lounge, laundry and mail facilities, bathrooms, a café, and administrative space. A security system will be part of the complex, which will meet the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. A 150-car parking was constructed nearby as a first phase to this project.

At the groundbreaking, Associated Dean Neil F. Benedict said the new housing “is viewed as a significant component of Alfred State’s genesis as a primarily baccalaureate institution. Providing other than standard residential living opportunities is essential to our students’ preparation for life after college.”

The college has worked closely with the village on the project, which is near the Main Street and the downtown business district.

Mayor Craig Clark, who also is the dean of the college’s School of Applied Technologies, said the new housing will help the college and Alfred itself. “This will obviously bring in more students and give the college a chance to have summer programs,” he said at the groundbreaking ceremony. “This is big for the village ad the community. This will ensure that businesses will thrive and survive. Right now, it’s slow in the summer.”

The project site is in the college’s center quad, near the village’s only traffic light.

The Dormitory Authority sold bonds to finance construction of the housing complex. The Authority’s construction project management team is headed by Chief Project Manager Jennifer Parsons, Project Manager Daniel Gaffney and Field Representative Larry Fairman. SWBR Architects of Rochester is the project architects, and LeCesse Construction of Henrietta is the general contractor.

Construction is expected to be completed for the fall semester of 2007.

For more information, contact Press Officer Claudia Hutton at (518) 257 3382, or CHutton@dasny.org or http://www./lowermanhattan.info .