The College at Brockport has announced on Friday that a new residence hall that is expected to be built at a lower cost. The four-story dorm is projected to have a total cost of $23.8 million. $21 million will go to construction and the rest for administrative-related costs.

The new residence hall will have 256 beds and is set to be constructed on vacant land along New Campus Drive between Allen Hall and the campus town homes. It will begin in May and completion is estimated sometime in the summer of 2018.

Purcell Construction Corp. was selected for the project. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York expects to save around $8 million in construction costs.

Rob Ryan, the Dormitory Authority's director of construction and operations for Western New York said they gave the bidder direction on the budget and basic concept of what the college wants to build before the lowest bid was selected. They college has used the "Design, Bid, Build" process for 15 years. It was more expensive and took longer to complete.

The Democrat And Chronicle reported, the new dorm will observe the "Design Build" model, the construction cost was made public before the proposals were accepted. State University of New York dorms typically run $120,000 to $130,000 per bed and in the new Brockport dorm, the cost is estimated to be about $90,000 a bed.

With the new process, both design and construction services were provided in a single contract to help save time and money. Wall components of the building will be built in an off-site factory while site work and foundations are being prepared according to 13 Wham.

The college currently has 12 residence halls and a complex of town homes. They had 6,375 full-time and 753 part-time undergraduates last fall, along with 345 full-time and 770 part-time graduate students.

Brockport, plans to grow by about 400 students over the next three or four years. Five or six of the residence halls will need renovations. The new dorm will provide rooms to house students during renovations.