"The entire building has been gutted," says Carl Balsam, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "It will be of the quality of a new condominium with modern amenities."

When completed, the project - the Sawyer Court residences - will provide about 100 beds in 28 separate units at the corner of Sawyer and Argyle, south of the school, Balsam says. Two units will be for the residence director and an office.

The new units were necessary because of increasing enrollment, Balsam says. Most of the student housing has been full this year and projections suggest the number of students will continue to grow.

The building will be completed by the fall and already has proved popular with students. "During the housing lottery, everybody wanted in," Balsam says. "They didn't have any problem filling it."

Students will each pay $5,000 a year to stay in the unit compared with $4,650 to stay in a regular off-campus apartment, Balsam says. Dorm residences are $3,950 a year.

Students must be at least sophomores to live in the units and be able to demonstrate diversity among the roommates before being eligible for the lottery, through which off-campus student housing is assigned, Balsam says. That diversity may include a number of possibilities - city and rural, ethnic, as well as international.

Balsam says each unit will have a "basic furnishing program" for each of the bedrooms that will include beds, desks and dressers. The modular furnishings have been used in other university apartments and can be arranged in multiple ways.

A "modest amount of furnishings" will be included for the living rooms, Balsam says. Administrators hope that will cut down on items students move into each unit, thus reducing any possible damage.