Ohio State University has been engaged in long-term housing developmentand improvements on its campus for a few years now, and is set to begin the next and largest phase to date.

The first phase along W. 11th Avenue, called the South Campus High Rise Renovation and Addition Project, is nearing completion. The $171 million project began in 2010 and focused on Stradley, Smith, Park, Steeb and Siebert Halls. The residential buildings, which were all constructed between 1957 and 1960, would see major changes.

-New 12-story additions would connect Park with Stradley and Steeb to Smith.
-10-story Siebert Hall would receive a major renovation.

In addition to the building additions, air conditioning, new elevators, lobbies and other improvements were made. The air conditioning was provided by drilling 450 geothermal wells. The additions would bring an additional 360 student beds.

Also renovated and added to was the William H. Hall housing complex at W. 11th and Worthington Street. Opened in August 2012, the building added 530 new beds.

The South Campus High Rise Renovation and Addition Project will ultimately add about 900 new student beds, but this is a far cry from the project just beginning along Lane Avenue.

Announced around the same time as SCHRRAP, the North Campus Residential District Project began just this past week. This project focuses on the large cluster of dorms and other buildings at the southwest corner of N. High Street and W. Lane Avenue. Most were built in the 1960s and 1970s and look it.

The image above shows how the area looks currently. As the key says, the buildings in red are scheduled to be demolished. The road that goes through the complex, Curl Drive, is also scheduled to be removed.

The image above shows the first phases of construction through Spring 2014. As you can see, there will be 3 main areas of construction during this period.
-A new dorm will be constructed at the southeast corner of W. Lane and Neil Avenues. This area is currently a surface parking lot.
-Scott Hall will be demolished and the site will be replaced with a much larger building.
-Raney Commons will be demolished, and site preparation will take place for new buildings, as well as removing Curl Drive and other infrastructure.
-Once site preparation is complete, 3 new dorm buildings will be constructed at the corner of N. High and W. Lane.

The last image above shows the final phase of construction, from Fall 2015 to Summer 2016. During this period, several changes take place.
-4 row homes along W. Lane will be demolished, as well as North Commons, Houck, Blackburn and Nosker Halls, the Royer Student Activities building and the Jones Pool.
-5 new buildings will be built in this area, as well as new addtions to Taylor, Jones and Drackett Halls.
-A central pedestrian corridor will be completed through the entire complex.
-High and Lane will be landscaped, and park spaces will be created throughout.

In the end, 3,200 new beds will be created in the $370 million project. This will drastically change the look and feel of this area, and will continue to add density to the campus area, already Columbus’ most dense.