New College of Florida closes Pei dorms for mold, sends students to 4-star bayfront hotel

Some New College of Florida students will spend this fall semester living in a four-star hotel four miles from campus in downtown Sarasota.

New College will close its I.M. Pei dorms "out of an abundance of caution" and instead send upperclassmen to the Hyatt Regency, the four-star hotel on the Sarasota bayfront, the college announced in a press release Thursday.

The announcement comes as the college agreed to send additional students to two hotels less than a mile north of campus amid ongoing dorm renovations.

"Out of an abundance of caution, and for the health and safety of the NCF community, Interim President Corcoran has made the decision to shutter all of the Pei dorms. This decision was made after the recent engineering report indicated air quality concerns," the college wrote in a press release Thursday.

The Herald-Tribune requested the college's contract with the Hyatt Regency and the recent air quality report referenced in the release, but the documents were not immediately available. As of Thursday, both one and two-person rooms at the Hyatt Regency cost about $193 per night before fees, according to the hotel's website.

A Herald-Tribune report in July showed that New College was reassigning upperclassmen to Pei dorms despite a report deeming the building virtually uninhabitable due to systemic mold issues. New College assigned the incoming freshmen and student-athletes to the newer, renovated Goldstein and Dort apartment-style dorms — which historically housed upperclassmen — while moving others to off-campus hotels.

At the Board of Trustees meeting Aug. 10 when the board voted to abolish the college's gender studies program, it also approved a $1.6 million contract with Home2Suites and Hilton Garden Inn less than a mile north of campus. The contract, however, did not include an agreement with the Hyatt Regency.

It also wasn't immediately clear how the college planned to transport students from the Hyatt Regency, given that it is farther from campus than the other hotels. Under the contract with Home2Suites, shuttles would be provided for students.

While living in the hotels, students face several restrictions. Students are not allowed to hang, stick or pin posters or other decorations on walls, and are not allowed to bring personal microwaves, toaster ovens, coffee pots or hotpots, according to the college's contract with Home2Suites. Room service and room deliveries, such as DoorDash and Grubhub, are also prohibited.

Students also cannot have alcohol on the property and cannot host parties. Each resident is permitted one guest per room, according to the contract.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: New College closes dorms, sends juniors and seniors to Hyatt hotel