A new scholarship hall will be ready for the next round of Kansas University freshmen in fall 2005.

Ground was broken in April on the $3 million Dennis E. Rieger Hall, which will house 50 women at 1323 Ohio. The hall was funded through a gift by Roger and Annette Rieger, of Seattle, in memory of Roger’s brother Dennis, a KU alumnus who died of complications of diabetes.

“What we plan to do is occupy the facility in August of 2005,” said Jim Modig, director of KU’s design and construction management, who has been at KU since 1979. “So the plan would be to wrap up the facility in the month of June, give us the month of July to get the facility furnished and stocked and ready for the fall semester.”

But early construction has been hampered by the near-constant rain that poured on Lawrence through the early part of the summer, while workers were trying to do foundation work.

“If it ever quits raining, we’d be a lot further along,” Modig said. “The project’s on schedule, as best we can, with the weather the way it is.”

Construction proceeded after several years of wrangling with residents of the nearby Oread Neighborhood Assn., which didn’t want to see century-old houses torn down to make way for the new hall.

In the end, KU won the battle, but neighbors were invited to sit in on the design process.

One house was saved from the wrecking ball. The house formerly at 1309 Ohio had been slated for demolition by the KU Endowment Association to clear space for the new scholarship hall. But an independent student-housing cooperative, the University of Kansas Student Housing Assn., wanted more space and didn’t want to see the house destroyed, so KU donated it.

“We were intent on preserving this from the university and saving at least one piece of that lot,” said Charlie Goff, an Oread association member and director of the student housing association.

In March, the three-story, 76-ton, 114-year-old house was rolled down one of Lawrence’s steepest hills — on 13th Street — and installed in a new location at 1033 Ky.

“That’s probably about the worst hill we’ve come off with a house that big,” said Clifford Tessendorf of Wamego-based Valley Moving, who’s been moving homes for 30 years.

When renovation is completed sometime late in the year, the house will be used by the student housing association for apartments. The association is an independent student housing cooperative.