The University began construction earlier this month on an F Street residence hall that is scheduled to open for the fall 2006 semester.

Tracy Schario, GW’s director of Media Relations, said no groundbreaking ceremony was held for the building, which will provide GW with 379 on-campus beds. The building will stand adjacent to Francis Scott Key Hall on land that was previously used as a parking lot.

The sidewalk and parking lane from the east end of 2025 F St. to the corner of 20th and F streets are closed in anticipation of the two-month foundation excavation underway and subsequent construction.

Residents in Francis Scott Key Hall have already been notified of elevated noise levels and took part in a meeting with University officials Wednesday.

“As with any construction project, most of it is done during the daylight hours and we just ask students to just be sensitive to any inconveniences it causes,” Schario said.

The dorm will provide rooms needed to comply with a D.C. Board of Zoning Adjustment order that requires the University to house 70 percent of its undergraduate population, along with all freshmen and sophomores, on campus by fall 2006. Currently, GW houses about 60 percent of all students on campus. The F Street hall’s new beds alone will likely not bring the University in compliance with the order.

-Gabriel Okolski