ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ tops off new residence hall with special beam
The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ celebrated a new era for the University today with the topping-off of its first new residence hall across Route 9 in Biddeford, with a special beam created for the occasion.
ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½'s campus expansion under way across Route 9 supports the university's thriving student enrollment and will support the social and academic benefits of on-campus living for undergraduates.
A topping-off beam is a tradition that marks having successfully reached the highest point in a structure. At the annual holiday luncheon held on ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½'s Biddeford Campus December 18, over 150 members of the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ community signed the topping-off beam, painted white for distinction.
Workers from Allied Cook Construction, which is building the residence hall, also signed the 19-foot steel beam. Today, it was carefully hoisted into the highest point of an exposed area of the residence hall's attic, where it will remain for future generations.
The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ expansion across Route 9 was approved by the Biddeford Planning Board in March 2009, and the four-story, 300-bed residence hall is expected to be completed in time for ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ student occupancy in fall 2010. The university also plans to break ground on a new athletics field and an underground gateway to the Hills Beach side of campus in spring 2010.
This $26 million project investment, which is expected to employ 245 area construction workers over a 12-month period, is one of the largest construction projects currently under way in the state.