WAYNE, Neb. -- The last time Wayne State built a new residence hall?

According to Vice President of Student Affairs C.D. Douglas, a dorm has not been built on campus since 1966.

“I think all of you would agree we are long overdue to provide our students [with] a home away from home,” Douglas said.

To begin the new construction on the suite-style housing on campus, WSC president Dr. Marysz Rames said the suites will replace the aging Berry Hall.

“We kept working through a lot of details, seeing if we could renovate halls and that’s when we determined that it was best to build new which will actually be a replacement hall for one of our oldest halls on campus,” Rames said.

The housing will replace some of Berry Hall but will not be a “bed for bed” replacement.

“We’re running about a 90% occupancy at Wayne State so we’ve got a little movement there,” Rames said. “We’re also looking at our other halls and some other things we can do.”

The college recently announced another growth in student population, totaling a count of 4,595 students for fall 2023.

This makes it the seventh straight year of student growth at the college.

“If this really grows and we continue to see a bigger interest of staying on campus for upper class students, then that opens the door for us again to revise that master plan and see what’s next,” Rames said.

Senior Stacey Frisch spoke during the groundbreaking ceremony and has lived in Bowen, Berry, and was a community coordinator in Terrace and Pile Hall.

With Berry nearing its end, Frisch said it is a bitter sweet moment to see the 63-year-old building be replaced.

“It’s really sad to see it going but I’m hoping this new hall is going to become that for the next generations of students and they’re going to see, as much as we have, that [the importance of] community building,” Frisch said.

As of now, the project is set to cost $24 million and is set to be completed next year.