Key card access, campus phone lines and ice machines are among the new features that students can expect when they move into the new Worth Hills residence halls. 

The new residence halls were open for student check-in Wednesday. TCU 360 got the opportunity to meet with Craig Allen, the TCU director of housing and residence life, and shoot some footage of the new residence halls.

The two new buildings, both four stories tall and having a grand total of 396 beds between them, will feature ID-card swipe access for every residential room. Students that are living in suites will have a key for their own individual rooms.

Allen said that one of the residence halls is named Marion Hall, and that the other one is named, but that donors have not publicly announced it yet.

A third residence hall is set to be built in August after school starts. It is anticipated to have 163 beds and suite style rooms as well.

The condominiums that are located near Brachman Hall are also scheduled to be torn down and to have construction started on a new project on its location in January, Allen said. The new project will be a multi-purpose building, featuring a second on-campus cafeteria.

Some of the other new features in the Worth Hills Residence Halls include:

Campus Phone

Each building has a phone installed on every floor that will allow students to call the front desk or any other on-campus extension number.

“We kind of went back to the future on that one,” Allen said. “We realized that less than 10 percent of all students who brought land-line phones to campus even plugged them in, since they have their cell phones. This gives them an easier way to call others on campus.”

Suite Layout

The new residence halls were built to accommodate more students, and some suites will feature two full-size beds in one room, resulting in four people living in two rooms for the total suite. The rest of the suites will be single bedroom, meaning each resident will have their own room within the 4-room suite, much like the Commons.

“More common space than the Commons”

Allen said that the new residence halls “have more common space than the Commons,” and that this was an intentional choice.

“I heard students telling me that they liked living in the Commons, but that there wasn’t enough space for them to hang out as a group outside of their suite,” Allen said. “We decided to make more common space for the students here.”

Ice Machines and Baking Area

Both buildings will have self serving ice machines available for students to use, and one building will feature a kitchen with a baking area. Allen said this area will not have a stove top, because of safety code regulations.

Allen said that the new residence halls will mostly house sophomores, and that semester costs will be roughly the same as housing in the Commons and in the Tom Brown Pete Wright apartments.