Towering Renovations

Renovation of the Miller and Dieseth residence halls has long been considered by students to be somewhat of a pipe dream and a foregone fantasy. The two dorms, collectively known as Towers, have been a landmark in sophomore and upperclassmen housing since the late 1960s, but proposals to give the Towers a massive overhaul have been delayed due to economic worries.

Major renovation proposals had cropped up in administrative discussions as recently as 2008, but were forestalled due to economic concerns. Although original restoration plans were shelved when the economy tanked, the idea of a Towers overhaul has not been completely discarded.

Towers recently received multiple improvements, totaling a combined $3 million dollars. These improvements included new elevators, improvements to the heating and air-conditioning system, renovated lounges and bathroom outlets. However, these improvements were all undertaken separately, without an overall renovation in mind.

“The Towers used to be like a dungeon,” Vice President for Finance and Adminstration Diane Tacke said. “Considering that they are home to 700 students, I really think that we need to stop the piecemeal renovations and just get it all done.”

Though smaller renovations have occurred, many students hold out hope that a complete refurbishment will not be overlooked amidst other pressing institutional objectives.

“Towers have been consistently ignored when it comes to renovations,” Andrew Gonzales (’12), a resident of Miller, said. “We aren’t a first-year hall, so we don’t have to look fancy for prospective students, and we aren’t a spiffy new sustainable science building to garner media attention. Why would the administration put money into improving a building for students whose money they already have? We deserve a renovation no matter how much it helps or doesn’t help Luther’s enrollment or reputation.”

A systematic overhaul, however, may be the most challenging of objectives to accomplish. Renovation of the buildings would involve considerable work, including replacing the installed furnishings with movable pieces, removing the asbestos in the rooms, replacing the heat and air conditioning units and installing wireless internet capability. More showers would also need to be added since each floor has just three showers to serve forty or more residents.

Another issue concerns the use of study lounges as dorm rooms due to issues with housing capacity.

“If we are going to use them as living spaces they need to be made appropriate. They are not working the way that they should be right now,” Tacke said.

Such an overhaul was originally planned to take place during summer 2009, but was put on hold due to the economic downturn.

“The economic crash obviously had an impact on the stock market and our [Luther’s] debt covenant ratios were below where we wanted them to be and made it difficult to get loans for renovations,” Tacke said. “We were also concerned about our student enrollments.”

There are also many issues that go along with getting the proposed renovations completed, as they must be completed during the summer. Completing the renovations during the summer months would be challenging since contractors would have to work around Luther’s summer programs. One of the Towers would be unavailable as a housing option for summer students while the other received renovations, although a floor-by-floor renovation would only remove a certain sets of floors at a time.

But Tacke also noted that a step-by-step process would similarly be limited by economic constraints.

The proposed Towers renovations are still in discussion. According to Tacke, a reasonable renovation that could be completed as early as summer 2010 would be adding Wi-Fi to the Towers. The complete overhaul students have envisioned for years, however, remains just out of reach.