University of Virginia Library

Lee Nets Contract
For University Dorms

R.E. Lee and Son of
Charlottesville has been
awarded a contract for
construction of housing for
some 840 students at the
Lambeth Field site at the
University of Virginia.

State approval of the low
bid by Lee of $3,910,813 was
announced by the University
Friday.

Originally the University
had planned to place about
1,000 students in housing on
the 16-acre Lambeth tract but
bids submitted in the spring
were well above the funds
available and the project was
revised. Eliminated from the
plans is as 12-story building of
student apartments, that would
have been the dominant
structure among other units of
three and four stories. Instead,
two additional low-rise units
will be build, according to
University planners.

Construction of the first
phase is expected to get under
way immediately with the first
units being available in
September 1974.

Ease Shortage

Completion of the Lambeth
housing units will be a major
step toward easing the student
housing shortage, University
officials said. In addition,
graduate housing for 200
students is being completed
this summer at Copeley Hill,
and dormitory space for 300
nurses will be completed early
next year.

The Lambeth Field housing
will be laid out in an L-shaped
pattern, in two parallel rows.
All apartments will have the
same basic interior design, with
two or three bedrooms, a
kitchen, living room, and one
and a half or two bathrooms,
depending on the size of the
apartment. There will be a
commons building which will
include meeting rooms, a snack
bar and laundry facilities.

Amphitheater Preserved

The existing amphitheater
and Colonnade, which served
as a stadium before Scott
Stadium was built in 1931, will
be preserved and the playing
field will remain open for
recreational use. Plans call for
preserving existing plantings
along the Chesapeake and Ohio
tracks nearby on the south and
new plantings will be added to
decrease the visibility and noise
of passing trains.