Stafford, Cramer residence halls to close permanently

University Hospital plans to expand onto that property.

By Zachary Murdock

Published March 16, 2010

The Department of Residential Life is nearing a conclusion regarding the fate of Cramer and Stafford residence halls after they are closed in the fall.

Granted approval in May 2001, the Residential Life Master Plan was developed to upgrade or replace all 19 residence halls on campus. According to the Master Plan Outline, each of the plans' five phases would take three to four years. The university is in the beginning stages of Phase Three.

In the original Master Plan, Cramer and Stafford residence halls were to be renovated. A change to the plan in 2005 decided the halls would not re-open, though a timeframe was not set up for the halls' closures.

Residential Life Director Frankie Minor said next semester both Cramer and Stafford halls would close permanently, providing University Hospital the ability to expand and construct the Patient Care Tower.

"There was a clear need that the hospital was going to need to expand their facilities," Minor said. "At that point we began to plan for the eventual loss of those facilities."

To account for the anticipated loss of the halls, Residential Life revamped its Master Plan in 2005 to increase the capacity of College Avenue residence hall from roughly 250 to 350 beds, as well as an increase in the mid-campus housing, including Defoe-Graham residence hall.

"The most significant change was to mid-campus housing which was originally conceived to be only about 200 to 250 beds, and now it's over 526 beds," Minor said. "By changing those plans, we were able to account for the potential loss of Cramer and Stafford."

Two years ago, both Cramer and Stafford residence halls were intended to be "moth-balled," Minor said.

Instead of using the buildings as residence halls, they would have doubled as space for a variety of Student Life offices while the student center was under construction. But with record enrollment, the plan was revised, Minor said.

"When we saw this huge freshman class coming in and huge number of returning students, those two dramatic perfect storms, we felt that we needed to rethink that plan," Minor said.

Because Cramer and Stafford residence halls will close next fall, the UM Health System will begin construction this year, the system's Web site stated.

The Patient Care Tower will house the Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, which would include space for clinical services, such as chemotherapy, radiation therapy and cancer screening, the Web site stated. In addition, the tower will house six operating rooms, 60 private-patient rooms and space for future expansions.

Because nearly all the roughly 470 beds in Cramer and Stafford residence halls have been accounted for in the College Avenue and mid-campus housing expansions, Minor said Residential Life is prepared for incoming freshman classes and returning students on campus.

"Ideally the best situation is to meet everyone's demand," Minor said. "In this situation, we have a slightly higher demand than we have capacity. But we believe in the long-term planning that's a temporary phenomenon."

The Residential Life Master Plan also includes the renovations to Hudson residence hall and Rollins dining hall, scheduled to be completed this fall, and the beginning of work in Gillett residence hall, to be completed fall 2011.