Southwest Hall is undergoing renovations during the summer months and is set to be finished before the fall semester, officials said. 

Southwest Hall houses around 300 students across three floors and costs $4,010 per semester.  Southwest offers hotel-style rooms, meaning each dorm room has its own private bathroom. Southwest was originally part of a group of four dorms built from 1955 to 1960 – North, East, South and West halls. 

North and East dorms merged to create what is now known as Munday Hall. South and West were merged, creating the Southwest on campus today, according to a WKU record. 

WKU’s new housing partner, Gilbane, is leading the renovations, which include new paint, furniture, light fixtures, vanities and blinds in students’ rooms along with new paint, carpet, furniture, appliances, and technology within the common areas of Southwest Hall, said Catherine LaRoche, executive director of housing and residence life and assistant vice president of student engagement.  

“Renovations are expected to be completed by the start of the fall semester,” LaRoche said. 

Southwest’s most recent renovations were in 2017. These renovations included a new lobby, community and study rooms, a theater room and a large kitchen area. 

WKU is also in the midst of repairing Normal and Regents halls, a $55 million project, after discovering many structural issues in the buildings. The university is in the process of demolishing Hilltopper Hall as well after severe structural flaws were found within the building, leading it to be unsalvageable. 

Gilbane is only renovating Southwest Hall this summer while beginning construction on phase 1 of Elevate WKU, Director of Media Relations Jace Lux said. 

Elevate WKU is a program that intends to transform WKU’s student housing by replacing old dorms with new residence halls through a public-private partnership with Gilbane. The first step includes tearing down Douglas Keen and Hugh Poland halls this summer and replacing them with a 1,000-bed hall that will open in Fall 2028.

“Southwest Hall was chosen as part of the Elevate WKU plan to renovate all upper-division (second-year students and up) housing facilities,” Lux said.