New dorm building completed at SUNY New Paltz.

Completion of the newest residence hall at SUNY New Paltz was celebrated last month in a ceremony in front of the new Lenape Hall. Students have already begun moving into this 238-bed dormitory.

The Dormitory Authority provided financing services and supervised construction of the $12.5 million, four-story building. Lenape Hall is air-conditioned, with lounges, a common kitchen, a meeting room/computer lab, a fully equipped exercise room and bicycle storage.

SUNY New Paltz president Steven G. Poskanzer and residence life director Corinna Caracci spoke at the ceremony.

Lenape Hall offers two types of rooms: suites, with bedrooms located off a common living area with large bathrooms; and double/triples with private bathrooms.

Ms. Caracci explained that each floor in Lenape Hall has four living/ earning communities for first-year students.

The clusters will be for the honors program, the emerging leaders program, an interest group of fine arts students and an interest group of students pursuing doctoral degrees in osteopathy.

"Each of these programs will give the students an opportunity to interact closely with their classmates outside of the classroom," Caracci said. "These programs also help to ease the transition of first-year students to college life with the help of various types of support services."

Lenape Hall is adjacent to the campus tennis courts and athletic fields, and the top floor has views of the Shawangunk Ridge.

The new dorm is across from Esopus Hall, a 220-bed dormitory that opened for the fall 2001 semester. The Dormitory Authority also provided financing and project management services for Esopus Hall. Esopus and Lenape halls are named for Native American tribes that lived in Ulster county.

With the opening of Lenape Hall, SUNY New Paltz has 13 residence halls on campus, with 2,800 beds available for resident students.

DASNY's statewide facilities program director Pasquale Cinelli and chief project manager Timothy McGrath represented the Dormitory Authority at the ceremony.

Project manager Andrew C. Hathaway headed the project team. The project architect is STV/Silver & Ziskind and Algonquin Construction Group is the construction manager.