Molloy students get swanky new digs

When Molloy College students move in on Sept. 2, about half of them will be living in the brand new Maria Regina dormitory.

The new dorm houses 101 students, bringing the school’s total number of students living on-campus to 258. The other students live in Fitzgerald Hall, which the school opened in 2011.

Maria Regina was a multi-purpose building before it was converted into a dorm. The top floor was a convent for the Sisters of St. Dominic, who moved out to the order’s other convent in Amityville. The Sisters founded Molloy College in 1955.

The building also housed offices used by members of the nursing faculty, and the basement is used by public safety. The nursing faculty has moved elsewhere on campus, but will soon move to the Barbara H. Hagan Center for Nursing that Molloy is currently building. Public safety offices are still in the basement.

The new dorm has 10 triple rooms, 9 doubles and two suites. The rest of the rooms are singles. In the basement, there is a 24/7 laundry room and a fitness center that is accessible to residents of both dorms.

As part of the renovations, the college changed the main entrance. The main entry way used to face Hempstead Avenue, but is now on the other side of the building and faces the rest of the campus. The original entry was preserved in the façade and converted into a large window. The marble steps were removed. College officials said that they are going to be recycled into a statue outside of the new entrance to the building.

The Maria Regina conversion was the latest step in the college’s rapid growth. Over the last few years, the college has built a student center, the Madison Theatre and Fitzgerald Hall. Work on the Barbara H. Hagan Center for Nursing is expected to be completed by Fall 2015.

“We’re enjoying making Molloy into a home for so many residents,” said Cristen Naud, the college’s coordinator of residence life.