Public Affairs Residential College and Shepard Residential College will be housed in the Mid-Quads next academic year when their current buildings undergo renovation as part of Northwestern’s Master Housing Plan.

PARC students will live in the North Mid-Quads Hall and Shepard students will live in the South Mid-Quads Hall. Residential Services Executive Director Paul Riel announced the changes in an email Friday to PARC and Shepard residents.

The Mid-Quads will undergo renovations this summer and will open in time for Fall Quarter.

The first floor of both buildings will be “reimagined,” Riel said. No rooms will be on the first floor, Riel said, apart from an Americans with Disabilities Act compliant suite. The majority of the area will be used as public space. Except for the first floor, the structure of the two buildings will remain the same, Riel said. All the rooms will be upgraded with new furniture and the bathrooms will be redone.

The renovations will also lay the groundwork for the buildings to have air conditioning, which they currently do not have, he said.

“The circulation of space is much more generous and more thoughtful for the students that’ll be living there,” he said.

Students did not live in either of the Mid-Quads this year, which allowed construction to begin earlier than expected, said Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, associate vice president for student auxiliary services.

“We assigned everything appropriately so we could keep them empty, which is smart. It’s far more efficient,” she said. “Let’s take advantage of the time that they’re dark. While we don’t anticipate we’ll have a lot of those opportunities, if we do we’re going to take it.”

Riel said construction on the Mid-Quads is expected to start around this year’s Commencement on June 19.

PARC’s president Sohini Gupta said the move to NMQ is inconvenient, particularly because they completed housing assignments for next year before they knew about the move. However, she said the move also has some positives.

“We’re moving into a brand new dorm with all new amenities and Res Services is being really helpful in sorting everything out,” the Weinberg freshman said. 

She added that everyone who was originally returning to live in PARC will be able to next year.

Goodrich House will also close next year and undergo similar renovations to the Mid-Quads. Goodrich, which is mainly occupied by upperclassmen, will reopen fall 2016, Riel said.

Additionally, Seabury Hall will no longer house undergraduate students after this school year. This quarter, only 11 students live there. Seabury will be repurposed for administrative space.

This story was updated April 26 at 9:20 p.m. with comment from Julie Payne-Kirchmeier and Sohini Gupta, as well as a photo.

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