App State plans to complete four new residence halls by September 2022, which will add 300 new beds and a parking deck to campus. To complete the project, University Housing needs a $200 million loan.

Director of University Housing Tom Kane said App State will also use $30 million previously allocated for a new building after the 2014 demolition of Winkler Hall.

“We had hired an architect that said for about $8 million we could turn (Winkler Hall) from apartments to suites,” Kane said. “The low bid was $12 million. So at that point, we decided to implode the building.”

Kane said University Housing asked the UNC board of governors if the project should include multiple buildings or a single building. The board of governors decided on multiple buildings, but University Housing did not have enough money for new construction at the time.

“We decided we want to demolish six buildings,” Kane said. “The decision was instead of building five buildings, we would build four buildings.”

The university will tear down East, Bowie, Eggers, Gardner, Justice and Coltrane halls.

“The issue had to do with how would we tear down 1,800 beds and build 2,100 beds,” Kane said. “We won’t ever go backward, we’ll only go forward with our building plan.”

Kane said construction is starting now so beds available for students will not decrease, and the money to pay for the project will come from housing fees students pay to live in residence halls. Kane said the process is “the same thing as when you do a mortgage.”

“The contractor has said this is our guaranteed price,” Kane said. “If they take longer, we will not tear anything down until we know it’s going to open on time. The contractor will be held responsible.”

If a building does not open on time, Kane said costs will not increase for the university.

Two buildings are expected to open in August 2020. The third residence hall is expected to open in August 2021, and the fourth building is scheduled to open in August 2022.