Boston University students are voicing concern over communication inconsistencies regarding the ongoing renovation of Warren Towers, which began in January as part of the BU 2023-2033 Institutional Master Plan.
Sophomore Alara Lane said she knows “nothing about the behind the scenes” on how the renovation process works at the University.
“A lot of the time when they announce a renovation, it’s not really relevant to the students who are on campus at the time, because normally it takes a lot of time to start the actual planning and construction of it,” Lane said. “It’s really hard to source information and communicate the impacts to students.”
BU Spokesperson Colin Riley said the Warren Towers project team is working with the Residence Life office to inform A Tower residents of the current renovation schedule.
“Town Hall meetings were provided last semester, and BU’s Campus Planning and Operations Warren Towers Renovation website provides weekly updates on the project status,” Riley wrote in an email to The Daily Free Press. “In addition, if any work occurs outside regular hours or may be more disruptive, residents will receive a BU Alert notification.”
Kate Bittle, a freshman living in A Tower, said she saw posters about repairs to the escalator, thinking it would not be down for so long.
“I thought the escalator was only going to be down for a few weeks at most,” she said. “Here we are.”
As of Tuesday, the escalators are fully repaired after delays caused by difficulties in locating parts and specialized adjustments.
“It took our service provider, Otis Elevator, several months to locate parts from across the country … They were installed, but required numerous micro adjustments to have them function correctly with the rest of the equipment,” Riley wrote. “Massachusetts State Elevator inspectors inspected the work after Otis tested the units. The State approved the elevators and escalators to return to service.”
Bittle said providing clear timelines for renovations would help students stay informed.
“I think making a set start date and a set approximated end date would definitely be helpful,” Bittle said.
Lane said consistent updates by the University would help address potential housing disruptions for students.
“If there’s ways to be transparent [on the housing website] about possible updates or the potential for having to move out halfway through the year, I think that could be really beneficial,” Lane said. “Also, I think it’s important earlier on in the process to gauge students’ interests in the initiatives and how impactful they think they would actually be, or how necessary.”
Sonia Richards, associate vice president for Planning, Design and Construction, said the Warren Towers renovation is being implemented in phases to minimize disruption, and will be completed in 2028.
“The planning of the project is being done in phases, so that we’re taking one tower at a time to do that work,” Richards said. “That, we feel, will have the least impact on the students that will be still living in Warren Towers.”
Richards said the renovations are focused on updating the building to better meet the University’s current needs and provide an improved residential experience for students.
“Those are all evaluated on a regular basis, and then we determine what are the appropriate renovations needed to accommodate those programmatic needs,” she said. “Warren has not had any kind of extensive renovation for quite a while, and it was time to make those appropriate changes to the building … as well as evaluating appropriate residential experiences for the University.”
Sophomore Cooper Hassman said he would like more opportunities for student input in the construction process.
“I think having open meetings where people can express their opinions with the administration would be nice,” Hassman said. “I definitely feel like there is a divide between what the students want, what the administration is doing and how these decisions get made.”
As renovations continue, students say they hope BU will continue to “put the students first over the renovations.”
“I do think it’s good that BU is trying to make these improvements, I think that everyone recognizes there are areas to be improved,” Lane said. “But I think it’s going to really fall on to how they still prioritize their students during this process. It’s important that they’re not displacing them and forcing them out at random times and throughout.”
