NMHU News

 

Mortimer Hall on the New Mexico Highlands University campus is being demolished to make way for the university’s new student center that will be built at the northwest corner of National Avenue and 8^th Street.

 

Mortimer Hall is an outdated and non-functional building on the site for the new student center, which is adjacent to the university’s Donnelly Library. The university expects the Mortimer Hall demolition to be completed later this month.  

 

The university’s contractor for the demolition will salvage recyclable and reusable materials from Mortimer Hall, in accordance with green building practices required for LEED certification of the new student center. The project is designed to achieve this high-level measure of sustainability.

 

Bids for the three-story 65,000-square-foot student center will go out sometime in March, with construction slated to begin late this spring. The construction cycle will be an estimated 18 months.  

 

“This student center will offer new amenities that enhance the quality of campus life for our growing student body and help with both recruitment and retention,” said Highlands University President Jim Fries. “It will also make a striking gateway to the main campus and offers various services for the community.”

 

The building will include a dining facility for the residence halls, a flexible theater space that can also be used for lectures and dances, student service offices for Campus Life and Housing, computer lab, teaching and support space for high tech training programs, game room, multicultural conference space, campus bookstore, campus post office, café, copy center, and an executive boardroom for campus governance groups.