Work has started on two new residence halls on the western edge of Daisy Hill, at 15th and Iowa, south of Templin Residence Hall and north of Irving Hill Road. The halls will house about 350 students each. These halls will replace McCollum Residence Hall, which will be razed. The last new residence hall built on campus was Oliver Hall in 1967.

Kansas University officials are so jazzed about the construction of two new residence halls on Daisy Hill that they have a webcam trained on the site so people can get online to see how the project is going.

“It’s a real exciting project for us,” said Diana Robertson, director of student affairs for KU. “There is a lot of interest in the project from current students and alumni,” she said. To watch the construction, go to http://dept.ku.edu/~dshweb/cam.php

The new residence halls are scheduled to be completed and open in August 2015.

The five-story halls, which will house about 350 students each, will be located on the western edge of Daisy Hill at 15th and Iowa streets.

Once the buildings are completed, McCollum Hall will be demolished and become a parking lot. The total cost of two new buildings and the knock-down of McCollum will be about $48 million.

The new halls will house mostly freshmen and will include two- and four-person suites, and some single-occupancy suites.

The dorms will also feature a digital production room and study spaces. There will also be a mini-mart.

The last time a new residence hall was built at KU was when Lyndon Johnson was president in 1967.

The new halls represent a recognition that the needs and wants of today’s student has changed since the 1960s.

The students will have a little more space, more privacy and the two halls will be connected by a commons area that will include areas where students will be able to get academic advice, library services and computer help.

“Today’s market is looking for a smaller community for the most part,” Robertson said.