New look for UFA furniture

The University Forest Apartments are getting a facelift, sort of.

This semester, the University of Richmond purchased new kitchen and living room furniture, including a round table with four chairs, a sofa, two lounge chairs, a coffee table and a floor lamp for all university apartments.

Betsy Andress, director of university services in the Office of Procurement and Strategic Sourcing, said that each year an assessment of campus upgrades was conducted and chosen projects were allotted money from summer capital projects funding.

"We look every year at furniture needs and try to come up with the biggest need we can provide," Andress said.

This year that need was new UFA furniture. The team, which made the decision in May 2010, was aware of the age of UFA furniture and decided to begin the process of finding new furniture. Andress worked closely with housing, the dean's offices, the Procurement team and Steve Bisese, vice president of student development, to select the furniture, which cost a little less than $345,000 for all 161 units.

Because of the large quantity, Andress said the team had looked for furniture in compliance with fire codes, that was durable and green -- made from recycled content or manufactured through an environmentally-friendly process. It was easier and more cost-efficient to use a Virginia-based company to ease the delivery. The team selected Butler Woodcrafters, a Richmond-based manufacturing company that specializes in residence hall furniture and provided the current furniture in Lakeview and Freeman halls.

Andress said that it had been important to find furniture that used fabrics made of the material crypton because of its durability and stain resistance and because it was made of recycled polyester. Dark wood was selected so that wear and tear would not appear as much on the furniture.

"We're hopeful that students really do like the new change," Andress said, "and that the furniture is updated and usable so that it's comfortable and creates a flexible environment."

Joan Lachowski, director of undergraduate student housing, said the decision to refurnish the apartments had been made after assessing the needs of each living space on campus and soliciting various opinions, including that of the deans' offices, about what needed improvements.

Typically, updates to the apartments are made on a staggered rotating schedule, with a few sets of apartments receiving new furniture or other appliances at one time and others receiving the upgrades later, she said. When the decision was made to refurnish the downstairs apartment furniture, the team decided to update all of the apartments at once.

"I was happy to know that all the updating would be done at one time," Lachowski said. "That normally does not happen.

"Other than furniture, the apartments haven't had any major improvements, so I'm really hoping students will enjoy it and take care of it."

As for the old furniture, two furniture sales were held in June and July, which grossed between $800 and $900. Many faculty members bought furniture for organizations they knew could use it, Andress said. The remaining furniture was donated to 28 local non-profit organizations, including Caritas, Safe Harbor Shelter, Virginia Support Housing and Home Again.

"It was unexpected and really exciting," junior UFA resident Tori Roebuck said. Roebuck said that she had received notification in early August that all 161 units of the apartments would get new downstairs furniture. She and her apartmentmates had considered purchasing additional furniture for their apartment, but that they had decided against it after getting the new furniture, she said.

"We were really excited to get the e-mail and to know that we are the first to use the furniture," Roebuck said. She said she had found the furniture to be functional and easy to move around.

Junior Caitlin Fifield said that she also enjoyed being the first to use furniture and that so far it has proven to be stain resistant.

"I'm excited to see the coffee table and to have the floor lamp," Fifield said. "It will make our space look more complete."

The coffee table and floor lamps are scheduled to arrive in mid-September.

Contact staff writer Sarah Bowers at sarah.bowers@richmond.edu