Jamie Fleming, Brock University director of residences, stands in front of the future Gateway Suites, Brock's seventh residence, which will be ready for the 2015-16 academic year.

Brock University students are about to get another taste of the suite life.

The corner of St. David and Norman roads, which is a short walk to the St. Catharines campus, is currently a construction zone and will be home to Brock’s newest residence in time for the 2015-16 academic year.

Brock’s seventh residence – called Gateway Suites – will accommodate 86 upper year, graduate and international students. There will be no first-year students and no Residence Life staff.

“We’re always taking stock of the landscape,” said Jamie Fleming, Brock’s director of residences. “The University’s enrolment continues to climb. Also, the make up of the student population has changed over the years.
“Our current residences are almost all first-year students who then move off campus. Now, some will move in here.”

The suite-style units will have three or four bedrooms and offer students something different than traditional dorms (DeCew, Vallee, Earp, Lowenberger) and townhouses (Village and Quarry View).

Each suite will be furnished and have appliances including fridge, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer.

Brock will lease the four-storey residence from the same private developer who owns Quarry View, which opened in 2003 and is adjacent to the newest building.

“Leasing space is an option a university can explore,” Fleming said. “Given the proximity and the existing relationship, this seemed to make sense.”