flexiblefullpage -
billboard - default
interstitial1 - interstitial
catfish1 - bottom
Currently Reading

A New Hampshire college offers student housing as hotel rooms during the summer

Hotel Facilities

A New Hampshire college offers student housing as hotel rooms during the summer

The opening of a new residence hall could help with Plymouth State University’s hospitality marketing. 


By John Caulfield, Senior Editor | March 6, 2018

The 96,000-sf Merrill Place, a residence hall on the 170-acre campus of Plymouth (N.H.) State University, will convert its student rooms to hotel rooms during the summer. Image: (c) Anton Grassl

Colleges and universities are constantly looking for new revenue streams. Plymouth State University in New Hampshire is taking the hospitality route: Its newest residence hall, the 96,000-sf Merrill Place with 345 beds, will convert to a 188-key hotel during summer months.

The new residence hall, which opened last August, includes a 4,300-sf conference center that has been consistently booked, to the point where Perkins + Will, the architect on this $33 million project, has had difficulty scheduling time to photograph the building, says Yanel de Angel, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, CPHC, an Associate Principal at the firm’s Boston office.

The seven-story Merrill Place’s main purpose is to provide campus housing for this public university, which over the past few years has seen a spike in its admissions. (It currently has just under 4,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate students. With the opening of Merrill Place, PSU can offer housing to 60% of its undergrads.)

By doubling as a hotel with a conference center, the new building fills a void for Plymouth, N.H., which de Angel points out had just one event facility with a capacity of 330 people, and only a handful of hotels. The college is situated near the Appalachian Trail, “and offers fantastic hiking, rock climbing, and cycling opportunities.” 

 

Merrill Place's 4,300-sf conference center can accommodate nearly 300 people for dinners and other events, and around 500 for lectures. Image: (c) Anton Grassl

 

Other colleges and universities have conference centers, of course. But what’s unique about Plymouth State’s, says de Angel, is that it’s being marketed as separate from the college, and has its own entrance at Merrill Place. The conference center can accommodate 276 seated attendees and 827 standing attendees. (The university’s 68,000-sf Field House, which opened in 2016, can also host conferences.)

There are two room sizes in the residence hall: 10 by 18 feet (including bathroom and corridor) and 11.6 by 18 feet. Some of the smaller student rooms are currently single-occupancy. The two twin beds in the double-occupancy bedrooms will be pushed together and rented as a single King bed for the hotel space. (The furniture supplier is DCI Furniture, based in Lisbon, N.H.) De Angel says the reception and concierge stations for the hotel have been built into the residence hall.

 

The student rooms will be rented as hotel rooms with King-sized beds. Image (c) Anton Grassl

Reception and concierge areas are already built into Merrill Place. Image: (c) Anton Grassl

 

Along with P+W, the Building Team on this project included Engelberth Construction (GC), Odeh (SE), Longchamps Electric (EE), RFS Engineering (MEP/FP), and Studio 2112 (landscape architect).

Due to recent administrative personnel changes, PSU has been slow to start marketing Merrill Place as a summer season hotel, although de Angel says the school has started putting together its advertising for that purpose, which will include offering rental of hotel rooms and the conference center as a package.

“Aligning program and aesthetics with a revenue-generating model is increasingly critical to today’s budget-conscious colleges and universities,” says de Angel. “The students here have embraced this whole idea about a residence hall with a hospitality layer. And we came away thinking that we might be able to take a little bit of risk with our designs in the future.”

Related Stories

| Aug 11, 2010

Skanska, Turner most active in U.S. hotel construction, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 50 Hotel Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

McCarthy, Skanska among nation's largest healthcare contractors, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 50 Healthcare Contractors based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

AECOM, Arup, Gensler most active in commercial building design, according to BD+C's Giants 300 report

A ranking of the Top 100 Commercial Design Firms based on Building Design+Construction's 2009 Giants 300 survey. For more Giants 300 rankings, visit http://www.BDCnetwork.com/Giants

| Aug 11, 2010

New book provides energy efficiency guidance for hotels

Recommendations on achieving 30% energy savings over minimum code requirements are contained in the newly published Advanced Energy Design Guide for Highway Lodging.   The energy savings guidance for design of new hotels provides a first step toward achieving a net-zero-energy building.

| Aug 11, 2010

Perkins+Will master plans Vedanta University teaching hospital in India

Working together with the Anil Agarwal Foundation, Perkins+Will developed the master plan for the Medical Precinct of a new teaching hospital in a remote section of Puri, Orissa, India. The hospital is part of an ambitious plan to develop this rural area into a global center of education and healthcare that would be on par with Harvard, Stanford, and Oxford.

| Aug 11, 2010

Turner Building Cost Index dips nearly 4% in second quarter 2009

Turner Construction Company announced that the second quarter 2009 Turner Building Cost Index, which measures nonresidential building construction costs in the U.S., has decreased 3.35% from the first quarter 2009 and is 8.92% lower than its peak in the second quarter of 2008. The Turner Building Cost Index number for second quarter 2009 is 837.

| Aug 11, 2010

AGC unveils comprehensive plan to revive the construction industry

The Associated General Contractors of America unveiled a new plan today designed to revive the nation’s construction industry. The plan, “Build Now for the Future: A Blueprint for Economic Growth,” is designed to reverse predictions that construction activity will continue to shrink through 2010, crippling broader economic growth.

boombox1 - default
boombox2 -
native1 -

More In Category




halfpage1 -

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021