Starting next Fall, Bates will have a new residence hall: 96 Campus Avenue. Students may remember the long brick building adjacent to the Campus Ave field as many things: the hub for student life while Chase Hall was under renovations in the 2022-2023 school year, and before that, overflow and COVID isolation housing. Now, the building is receiving a full makeover before the upcoming school year. The residence hall will welcome seventy-four students. 

Director of Campus Construction Projects, Chris Streifel, and Project Manager of the 96 Campus Ave Renovation, Brian Lanoie, are spearheading the project.

Bates bought the building from St. Mary’s Health System in 2021. Before that, it served as dormitory housing for The Sisters of Charity Order. According to Doug Hubley’s Campus Construction Update, during the demolition procedure that ended on Feb. 16, there was a pipe organ that was moved out of the building.

“That style of building gave us a lot of advantages,” Streifel said. “The rooms themselves were already comfortable living spaces, so we really didn’t have to make too many big modifications.” 

Lanoie added, “There’s what was once a large chapel that we spent a while figuring out what to do with. We eventually decided to make it into two double rooms, which I think students will enjoy because of the large windows and high ceilings the original room offered.” 

The plan for the building, Streifel said, is to have around 46 new single rooms, with a few doubles on every floor. He said, “It was in response to the high demand for singles on campus.” 

Along with these rooms, students can expect a common room on the second floor of the building, Lanoie said. “It will have a kitchen, some soft seating and a ping pong table, basically what students expect out of a common area in their dorm.” 

The project also plans to incorporate many of the outdoor features of the space as well. Lanoie said there are plans to “use the pre-existing patio space out back of the dorm for outdoor seating with Adirondack chairs.” Lanoie added that this patio will have a view of the outer edge of campus facing Lewiston Downtown. 

Streifel believes that like John Bertram Hall, the 96 Campus Ave addition will be a prime spot for athletes, who will enjoy the building’s proximity to Commons, Merrill Gym and many of the nearby sports fields. 

Perhaps most important for students selecting housing for next year is the all-important floor plans. On that Streifel said, “We plan on having the updated floor plans to the building with updated square footage soon.” 

Lanoie added “Students can expect single rooms that are on the larger size. The angled windows and walls ended up giving us a lot more space to work with for individual rooms, which we think students are going to enjoy.” 

“This is a very fast-paced project,” he said. “But we’ve learned a lot about what students want out of their dorm spaces, and we think it’s coming together in a way students will appreciate.”