May 18, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Augustana University.

Construction season is hardly something to look forward to – unless you’re Augustana University. To its community, fences and turning up dirt means progress. And, that progress will begin taking place on campus this summer.

Augustana officially will break ground today on an $50 million housing plan focused on new and enhanced facilities — a major step forward in the first phase of its strategic plan Viking Bold: The Journey to 2030, approved by its board of trustees in December 2019.

“It will be exciting to have construction on campus to highlight our growth,” said Augustana’s director of facility services Andrea (Miller) Smith.

“We must be able to meet the needs of the growing number of students that we will have on campus. By elevating the experience of our residential component, we’re elevating the excellence of the entire campus. It’s going to be incredibly impactful, not only for Augustana, but for the entire Sioux Falls community.”

Renderings by KWK Architects

As part of its strategic plan, Augustana identified goals set to take place over multiple phases within the next decade. Along with the university’s goals of establishing new academic programs, growing enrollment, making Augustana’s education more affordable and transitioning to NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics, improving its physical campus and information technology are at the forefront of AU’s pursuit to enhance its position as a top-ranked regional university.

“We’ve got some exciting things going on and our hard work is paying off. I think we’re seeing a lot of positive results behind all of the efforts,” Augustana’s CFO and executive vice president Shannan Nelson said.

“What we’re doing is contributing housing revenues that we receive from our students over the next 35 to 40 years, which will create an upfront asset that allows us to retain bond financing, so that we can make these improvements across campus, as well as create some additional financial sustainability.”

The largest portion of the plan includes building a new residence hall on the south end of Augustana’s north campus near 33rd Street and Grange Avenue.

The L-shaped building will be three stories high and house up to 200 students, nestled to the south of the Fryxell Humanities Center and north of Bergsaker Hall. The new facility will consist of semi-suites with four beds and a bathroom in each unit, getting away from the more traditional-style housing that the university offers. 

“When students come to Augustana, historically, what they’ve recognized is that it is different here when they meet with professors, they sense that deep, genuine care and passion for what they’re teaching. I think they know that this is a place where they’re going to be able to be involved; you have the opportunity to meet people from all areas of campus and to know them on a level deeper than just their names,” Augustana’s director of graduate and transfer enrollment Adam Heinitz said.

“But they are also looking at the residence halls, which are really important to them at first glance. And so that’s certainly a part of it.”

The main front area of the new residence hall will include a new shared multipurpose space that will focus on Augustana’s core value of community, which will incorporate both living and learning environments for faculty, students and affinity groups on campus.

“The thought is that the classroom space can be used for programming during the day that will create that learning environment, and then later in the afternoons and evenings, this can be opened up for more of a community space with interactions in the kitchen area, along with the traditional lounge,” Nelson said.

“What we’re trying to do is pull these functions out of the hall and put them into an accessible component of the building, so not just the residents of that hall can use it, but all of campus can utilize it.”

Augustana has learned through the pandemic that some things can be done differently, Heinitz said.

“We can certainly do things virtually, but I think it’s also reemphasized the importance of community here, and I think this new housing project coincides perfectly in that it takes into account what the next generation of students are going be looking for, in terms of space and some of the features of that building,” he said.

“It’s also going to allow them to have those experiences that you can’t replicate online. Students who come to Augustana really do value the community, relationships that they build with their fellow students, faculty and the people they meet across campus. Augustana is really investing in that for now and the future, and I think that’s going to be really exciting to prospective students and certainly our current students.”

Two of the university’s existing nearby residence halls — Bergsaker and Solberg — also will see upgrades to infrastructure; new windows will open up the buildings, elevators will improve accessibility with fresh new finishes and air conditioning will be added to each building.

“We have not only met the accessibility requirements for these buildings, but we have more ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) available rooms than required. In our renovated halls, though not required by code, we will have an elevator installed in both buildings, so there will be access to every single floor,” Smith added.

The project also will focus on a newly imagined campus green, which will include a new south landscaping courtyard that celebrates the university’s rich mature trees and outdoor classroom settings. The plan includes renovations to existing parking, as well as improvements to other infrastructure, such as utilities and security.

Along with the new building, the renovations of the two residence halls will create a new south residential village. 

 “Construction is the execution of a lot of planning. All of the intensive planning is what sets a project up for true success,” Smith said.

And there has been a lot of planning. 

Augustana put out a request for proposals for contractors and design firms in the summer of 2020. A local team of designers and construction engineers, partnered with a regional development/construction firm, was then selected to enter into an exclusive negotiation with Augustana. With the expertise of Mortenson Development, the firms of KWK Architects and TSP Inc. will be working on the new residence hall, while Koch Hazard Architects and Associated Consulting Engineering Inc., or ACEI, will be taking on the renovations of the existing structures. Confluence was hired as the landscape architect for projects related to the campus green, storm management and parking.

These teams also have leaned on other experts for help. No one knows exactly what students are looking for better than the students themselves. While construction is a welcome sight for many, the goal is to create as little disruption to campus as possible and include the AU community in the process.

“They (the students) know what parts are important, what they’ve maybe seen in other places or what they would really like to have in a new space. So students were involved in the design charrettes throughout this process. Primarily, student leadership groups were invited to be a part of that. That was really helpful; they were very upfront and honest about what they were seeing. There were some elements early on that were included that they thought, ‘You know, hey maybe, we don’t really need that.’ And, ‘Have you thought about…?’ kind of redesigning it,” Heinitz said.

“That part was really fun to see — the impact that they could have on the project and what it will look like in the end.”

The new residence hall, the south landscaping courtyard and renovations to Bergsaker Hall are expected to be completed by the fall of 2022. Renovations to Solberg Hall will be finished when students return in fall 2023.

“I’ve been here long enough that I’ve seen the kind of impact even the construction phase can have in terms of excitement, which then leads to impacts in terms of enrollment,” said Heinitz, who has worked at Augustana for 20 years.

“This is just evidence that we’re committed to being here in this community. I can’t think of a time when I’ve been more optimistic and hopeful for the future of Augustana, in part, because of what’s happening here in Sioux Falls, but also alongside Viking Bold and what’s happening with new programs and facilities. I think Augustana will be transformed 10 years from now, and we’re going to be positioned as an even stronger leader in this area.”

The new and improved housing plan for the south end of campus is part of a long-term, comprehensive plan to transform Augustana’s physical campus. Once these projects are complete, the university will assess their impact, along with the most current enrollment projections, to best determine how to proceed with the next phase of the comprehensive plan.