Apartments are being torn down, new apartments are being built and some residence halls are being completely remodeled.
Michael Heaton, assistant to OU's director of housing, said the university is meeting demand for on-campus housing through three living environments -- apartments, apartment-style options and residence halls.
Heaton said about 4,500 of the 27,000 students enrolled at the Norman campus live in university housing.
"We anticipate the demand for on-campus housing to remain steady for the 2006-07 academic year," Heaton said.
All three of the university's residence halls are undergoing a complete makeover to give them a more contemporary look and to upgrade the buildings.
Heaton said renovations will include new roofs, life-safety systems, heating and air units, flooring, lighting and furniture.
All residence hall renovations are scheduled to be complete by 2010, Heaton said.
The renovations are being funded with $75 million in housing revenue bonds the OU Board of Regents approved, Heaton said.
The university-owned Parkview Apartments will close at the end of May after more than 50 years of operation. A new complex is scheduled to open this fall.
He said about 300 Parkview residents will be relocated to other university housing at Kraettli apartments, OU Traditions Square and upper-class communities at the residence halls.
A new apartment complex, OU Traditions Square West, will open in August and accommodate 576 students, Heaton said.
Traditions Square East and West apartments represent the first new student housing to be built on campus in 40 years, Heaton said.
The complex being built at Chautauqua Avenue and Imhoff Road is identical to Traditions Square East, 2500 Asp Ave.
$1 million donation
will fund new facility
NORMAN - Hoping to infuse students with the knowledge and passion to build anything they set their minds to, a University of Oklahoma alumnus has donated $1 million toward a new engineering facility, making him the youngest million-dollar donor in university history.
Michael Miller's story is truly one of "hometown boy makes good."
He grew up in Norman, graduating from Norman High School in 1983. He went on to attend OU, majoring in electrical engineering and graduating in 1987.
He continues to call Norman home, living within two blocks of his parents and sending his three children -- Jordan, Elise and Al -- to Norman Public Schools.
In 1992, Miller and his business partners started Advanced Financial Solutions Inc.
The company grew quickly and is best known for creating the software financial institutions used to make miniature check replicas included in monthly bank statements. Currently, about half the financial institutions in the United States use the technology. The partners sold the company in 2004 with Miller staying on as a consultant.
Miller, 41, has scouted talent out of the pool of skillful, well-trained OU students for years, and he has hired many graduates to work for him.
Miller called the future facility a "showcase" and "engineering playground" that will attract the best students to the university's College of Engineering.
OU will break ground on the two-story, 40,000-square-foot ExxonMobil Lawrence G. Rawl Engineering Practice Facility in May.
By Jennifer Griswold
