After more than a year of extensive renovations, Buchanan Hall will become a home for students once again in the fall.

Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence, said the hall was built in 1964 and had never had a major renovation until recently.

“The cost to renovate Buchanan Hall was $12,450,000,” Alexander said.

Of the renovation cost, $3.8 million came from reserve money and $8.6 million came from a revenue bond, he said.

The renovation included refurnishing each room with new carpet and paint, putting sinks in each room and installing a new sprinkler system.

“Buchanan Hall now has a trash chute system within the building so students can throw their garbage down it without having to haul it outside,” Alexander said. “[It’s] not as obvious and ugly.”

The entries to the building are new and the back entry to the building is wheelchair-accessible, Alexander said.

Each floor now has a kitchen along with new dens that are larger, as well as a north lounge for the entire building and a kitchen located nearby, he said.

Because the building will be reopened in fall 2004, the Department of Residence sent out an e-mail to see how many upper-class students would be interested in living there.

Don Whalen, research analyst for the Department of Residence, sent the e-mail on Jan. 22 to students who were 21 or older to notify them about the reopening of Buchanan Hall and the cost of living there.

Whalen said he misquoted the cost of living in Buchanan Hall.

The e-mail said it would cost $4,788 for a single suite and $4,164 for a double suite for a 12-month contract. The actual cost to live in Buchanan Hall for 12 months would be $6,403 for a single suite and $5,571 for a double, Whalen said. This rate also includes a $14 fee added on to room rates for upgraded Internet speeds, he said.

Students interested in living in Buchanan Hall will also have a nine-month contract option.

More than 250 students indicated they might be interested in living in the renovated building and asked for more information.

Scott Hoger, junior in pre-journalism and mass communication and resident of Wallace Hall, said he received the e-mail but is not interested in moving.

“I’ve lived at Towers since I’ve been here — I like it out here,” he said. “It’s nice being in a dorm but not directly on campus. There is a sense of freedom out here.”

Alexander said he does not think the Department of Residence will have a problem filling the building, which holds 414 people.

“Prior to the renovation, many international students lived in Buchanan because it remains open yearlong,” he said.

The Department of Residence is expecting international students and upperclassmen to return to the building, Alexander said.