Nelms backs plan for dorm

NCCU might take over residence hall

DURHAM -- N.C. Central University's new leader is endorsing a plan initiated by his predecessor that would allow the university to take over a troubled, privately owned residence hall on the edge of campus.

Charlie Nelms, who took over as chancellor two months ago, says he agrees with former Chancellor James Ammons that the university should buy Eagle Landing, the 408-bed Brant Street dormitory built by the university's private real estate foundation and run by a private management firm.

State and university officials have disagreed over the building's condition, with state regulators contending in two reports over the past year that it has a slew of design and construction deficiencies. It has a valid certificate of occupancy from the city.

A 2006 report from the State Construction Office found $4.7 million in deficiencies; a second report released this spring cited some improvements but nevertheless found $9 million in needed fixes, including a $3.7 million overhaul to the three-year-old heating and air conditioning system.

But Nelms and other NCCU officials say improvements have steadily been made to the facility.

"The safety issues have been addressed," Nelms said in a recent interview.

The state must still sign off on the building's condition before the UNC system will allow NCCU to take over the debt payments on the facility. Bijoy Sahoo, NCCU's interim vice chancellor for finance and administration, said many of problems identified by the state last year -- such as mold -- have been fixed, and most of the state's more recent concerns have also been addressed.

Some include:

* A courtyard that the state deemed a fire hazard has been renovated. Shrubs, fountains and other aesthetic touches have been added that will take up space and discourage large numbers of students from congregating.

"We went beyond what was asked and really made it a lovely site and space," said Sahoo, who is treasurer of the NCCU Real Estate Foundation.

* An extra exit has been added to a conference room.

* Mail slots have been removed out of fear that they might cause too many students to congregate in one place, creating a fire hazard. Students now collect mail in an adjacent conference room, a solution Sahoo admits isn't perfect and is still being worked on.

Heating, cooling

But some of the state's recommendations, including the costly upgrade to the HVAC system, aren't critical right now, Sahoo said. Eventually, it will be replaced, he said.

In its May 2007 report, the State Construction Office said the heating and air conditioning system, which uses only electricity, costs about 25 percent more per square foot than most models in a comparable state university dormitory.

And in an inspection note in the State Construction Office's file on Eagle Landing, regulators reported in April that the building is deteriorating "at a faster rate" than they had determined upon inspection of the building the first time, the previous fall.

"Unless the HVAC system is completely revamped to a central, four-pipe operation with boiler and chiller, the current system will not only experience more and more physical problems, but operating costs will escalate," the note said.

Housing choices

The traditional, two-to-a-room dormitories the state has for decades built for UNC system campuses are generally expensive to build but last 50 to 100 years.

In recent years, however, campuses have branched out -- at the behest of students looking for a different living situation -- to suite and apartment-style residences such as Eagle Landing. Those often cost less to build but have about a 30-year life span, and universities generally like to have a mix of both.

Responding to a housing crunch brought on by a surge in undergraduate enrollment, NCCU officials in 2003 circumvented the usual, red tape-laden state construction process by forming a private foundation -- a common practice among UNC system campuses -- to build Eagle Landing privately.

Nelms, the new chancellor, said it makes sense for NCCU to own the building because it is essentially an on-campus facility but is not subject to full university oversight.

Further, owning Eagle Landing would give the university more power to collect housing receipts, which are needed to pay down the building's debt, Nelms said.