Quad renovations prompt unusual first year housing options — and a new sushi spot

As Penn's students prepare to move in for the 2024-2025 school year amid ongoing construction on campus, The Daily Pennsylvanian spoke with incoming first-year students and University administrators to learn more about the housing process.

An overview of the housing process

In May, incoming first-year students completed a housing application where they indicated their preferences for College Houses, program communities, roommates, and gender-inclusive housing, according to Courtney Dombroski, Penn's Senior Associate Director of Residential and Hospitality Services.

“The application is not first-come, first-served,” Dombroski said in a statement to the DP. “All applications receive the same randomized priority.”

In the housing application, first-year students rank the College Houses in order of preference. For each student, the system assigns students at random to their highest-ranked College House that has availability, according to the Residential Services website.

First-year students who apply to program communities have their application reviewed by College Houses and Academic Services. If CHAS approves the application, the student is assigned to a room within the program community. Students whose application is not approved are assigned to rooms through the regular housing process, according to Dombroski.

All first-year housing assignments were released in mid-June through Campus Express, according to Dombroski. She added that over 80% of first-year students received one of their top three College House preferences.

“There were no changes to the housing selection and assignment processes for this academic year,” Dombroski said.

Incoming College first-year Ayesha Mallick — who will be living in Gregory College House — told the DP that she appreciated that the application allowed her time to consider which housing option was best for her.

“I thought [the application not being first-come, first-served] was really important, because I needed time to research, and I needed time to look and see and make like a pros and cons list,” Mallick said. “Because for me, having a suite was really, really important … and having a house near my classes was also really important for me.”

Mallick said that while she did not receive her top choice of Lauder College House, she is satisfied with being assigned to Gregory College House.

“I think Gregory satisfies all the requirements I had with my housing assignment,” Mallick said. “Because for me, the biggest thing that was most important was having a suite, and I was able to get that.”

Incoming College first-year Linda Zhang — who will be living in the newly-renovated Riepe College House — described the housing application process as “a pretty smooth process.”

“[The process] was actually quite perfect,” Zhang said. “I applied without a roommate in hopes of getting a single, and I did, in fact, and I ended up getting Riepe as my house, which was my first top choice.”

Mallick also told the DP that she liked that the Residential Services website had pictures of all the different rooms.

“I think that made it really, really helpful, because even though I lived close to campus, I didn't really have an idea of what exactly a quad suite looked like or what a triple suite looked like,” Mallick said. “So I thought that website was really, really helpful for me when I was deciding the housing assignments and everything.”

Construction on campus

Construction on campus will continue throughout the upcoming school year, including renovations to the Quad, which is entering the second year of a three-year, $238-million renovation project slated for completion in the summer of 2026.

Renovations to Riepe College House — the first of the project’s three phases — finished this past summer, with the college house now ready to be occupied by first-year students. The improvements include updated heating, air conditioning, and electrical systems, renovated bathrooms, painted student rooms, new furniture, and floor repairs and replacement, according to Dombroski.

Ware College House will undergo renovations for the 2024-25 academic year, and renovations to Fisher Hassenfeld College House are planned for the 2025-26 academic year, Dombroski said.

As the second phase of the Quad renovations affects the most first-year beds of the three phases, Penn turned Lauder College House and Class of ‘25 in Gregory College House into first-year houses for this year and Gutmann College House into a four-year house. The University also agreed to lease 135 beds at The Axis, and continues its the three-year lease agreement with The Radian to meet the demand for housing for second-, third-, and fourth-year students, according to Dombroski.

Dombroski said that incoming students received information about the renovations during the "Eat. Sleep. Penn." presentation during Quaker Days and during the room selection process, which provided a link to a dedicated page on Residential Services's website with a timeline of the renovation process.

“Emails are also scheduled to be sent to Fisher Hassenfeld, Riepe, Hill, and Lauder communities to provide additional information about what they can expect during move-in and the academic year,” Dombroski said.

Zhang, in contrast, told the DP that she had not received much information about the status of the renovations until recently.

“All we knew was that Riepe was in renovation, but we didn’t get any pictures or any progress,” Zhang said. “The only update that we've gotten so far is actually, I think about a week ago, the Penn Residential Instagram account posted [that] they finally revealed the new renovations at Riepe.” 

McClelland Sushi and Market, as part of Ware College House, will also be undergoing renovations. Under the new name Penn Dining Sushi Spot, McClelland is relocating to 3724 Spruce Street beneath Stouffer College House. 

Penn Dining Sushi Spot — which is slated to open at the start of the academic year — will offer rice bowls and noodle bowls, gyoza, steamed buns, and edamame. Like McClelland, Penn Dining Sushi Spot will be open Monday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., but will have extended weekend hours of 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Penn affiliates will be able to use Dining Dollars, cash, and credit cards, and dining plan holders will be able to use the meal exchange, Dombroski said.

Additionally, Stouffer College House — which underwent a $35 million renovation that ended in August 2023 — is having renovations performed to its patio, which includes new waterproofing, concrete, planters and landscaping, as well as accessibility improvements. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, Dombroski said.