Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Mar 01/02) - Decommissioned row houses in the area known as the "Blueberry Patch" will soon be renovated and reopened as student housing for Aurora Campus.

The college is building a new campus to replace its deteriorating main building, but it did not receive funding for a new residence. The new college is expected to be open by the fall of 2003.

The college is partnering with a private contractor to upgrade the old row houses, outfit them with appliances, and rent them out, says Aurora College president Maurice Evans.

Of the 18 units to be renovated, 10 will be used for single student housing, and eight will be put out for public rental.

Aurora College closed the 18 units in 1998, when the buildings were moved off the district heating system. Instead of upgrading all of its row houses, it only upgraded 32 units -- which was as many as were required at the time for students.

"We didn't see a need to have all 50 units on, so we simply mothballed them at that time," Evans explains. "When it became apparent we wouldn't be able to find the resources to bring on the actual residence facility as part of a new college complex, we had to think about alternatives."

Evans says the territorial government came up with $200,000 for the renovations -- about half of what the entire project is expected to cost. The eight units being retained by Aurora College should provide enough beds to house all the out-of-town students, but the college hasn't given up on plans for a new $3 million residence building.

"The row houses are not the long term solution," Evans says. "This is what we can do in the interim until we can find the funding to build the residence that was intended to go toward the campus facility."