Construction for the ISU Department of Residence’s second phase of the Master Plan, Hawthorn Court, is ahead of schedule, and some students can begin moving into the new suite-style apartment complex by the end of the month.

Randy Alexander, director of the Department of Residence, said Hawthorn Court, which will house mostly upperclassmen, will have more buildings completed than originally planned.

“Hawthorn is coming along very well. We will have 11 of the 12 buildings open for fall, and the last one will be ready around Aug. 28. In the beginning, we were hoping to have nine of the building done, so that puts us about five months ahead of schedule,” he said.

Virginia Arthur, associate director of the Department of Residence, said students should be able to move into Hawthorn, which was built by Story Construction, before the end of July.

“Students currently living off campus who have made arrangements can move in as early as July 31, and the general move in date is Aug. 11,” she said.

Anthony Bateza, senior in zoology, will be a community adviser in Hawthorn this year. He said he believes Hawthorn offers a nice stepping stone between dorm life and living in an apartment.

“I’m excited to move in. It’s great to have something like this as an alternative to living in an apartment — that way you don’t have to worry about finding an apartment and signing a lease,” he said.

Bateza said he’s a little nervous about moving into Hawthorn Court.

“I’m sure I’ll forget to buy a lot of things, but I’ve been watching The Food Channel to prepare for having to cook my own food,” he said.

Alexander said in general, the student response to Hawthorn Court has been overwhelming.

“Students have been very excited about Hawthorn Court. I guess we even underestimated the response to it,” he said. “We currently have more students there than we budgeted for because of the fact that we are so far ahead of schedule.”

When the buildings are full, the department will house more than 1,000 students, Alexander said.

The first phase of the Master Plan was the remodeling of Maple Hall, which opened last fall, and next on the agenda will be the Union Drive Association, which should be completed in two years, Alexander said.

Alexander said he is not sure as to when the entire Master Plan will be completed. Other parts of the plan include building a new community center in place of the north end of Helser Hall and possibly tearing down two of the Towers residence halls.