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Dhiruj Kirpalani, a visiting medical student, walks past Courtside, which is under renovation until June of next year.

Two hundred and five double rooms are unavailable to students living on campus this year as Courtside, a part of Sunset Village, undergoes a $6.5 million renovation for water damages and cosmetic improvements.

The project began in August and is projected to continue until June of next year, Angela Marciano, the associate director of organizational planning performance and development for Housing, said.

Courtside dorms have had water intrusion issues since 1994 that were “pretty major,” Marciano said. As a temporary fix to problems caused by rain water leaking into rooms, housing reinforced the caulking around windows, patched the roof, and did some replastering. Housing officials had to wait until De Neve was finished to start the renovation in order to relieve some of the strain from the beds lost.

Marciano said the renovation was necessary because the construction of courtside “wasn’t done correctly the first time.”

Water intrusion occurred as early as 1992, as soon as the Housing office took occupancy of the building from the general contractor, Hensel Phelps. Housing officials attribute the problems to poor workmanship during construction and entered mediation as soon as water intrusion was noticed. They are now being financially compensated for the renovation as a result of the mediation.

Hensel Phelps could not be reached for a comment Monday afternoon.

The current construction management group in charge of Courtside renovations is PCM, which went through a selection process as opposed to a bid process to get the job, Marciano said.

Permanent repairs include re-plastering the building’s exterior, re-roofing, and replacing the windows. In addition to these necessary changes, Housing will take this opportunity to recarpet, repaint, refurbish rooms and lounges, install electronic card key door locks, replace bathroom fixtures, and enhance the entry ways and ventilation in the corridors.

Marciano said that a big gain in this project will be that “the internal courtyard will be relandscaped to be more program friendly.” Trees and lawns will still be in place, but the courtyard will also be able to provide spaces for student programs.

Currently the scaffolding is up and the building is shielded in order to keep noise and dust away from surrounding residents. The next step will be to remove the old plaster, or skin, from the building’s surface.

“Construction is always a challenge,” Marciano said, adding that losing the beds in Courtside was the biggest problem because the gains from De Neve were smaller. More triple rooms were created to account for this shortage.

A mitigation committee, headed by Rob Kadota, an area resident manager for the Office for Residential Life, has been formed to educate students about the renovation. Staff from Housing and the Office for Residential Life, a professor and the project manager from PMC also sit on the committee that meets once a week. Students can call a hotline or go to the weekly dining and environment meetings held in each resident hall to voice their complaints or concerns.

So far the committee has not heard one complaint, but Marciano expects that most of them will come from Sunset Village residents.

Marciano said eventually the Courtside renovation will help with the overcrowding by providing 500 more beds for residents.