A residence hall that has housed North Greenville University students since 1964 is about to get a dramatic makeover. Howard Hall, which currently holds just 24 students, will be renovated into four-person suites that will boost its capacity to approximately 78 beds, with the school aiming to reopen the building in time for the fall 2027 semester.
The university's Board of Trustees approved the multimillion-dollar renovation project at its fall meeting on Oct. 15, according to Greenville Journal. Construction was expected to begin in mid-October, setting up roughly a year of work before students move into the renovated space on the Tigerville campus.
A Longstanding Hall Gets New Life
NGU President Dr. Gene Fant said the renovation marks a major step as the university restores a longstanding hall and updates student housing, per the outlet's reporting. The project represents one of the university's more significant housing investments in years, more than tripling Howard Hall's current occupancy once complete.
Howard Hall sits in the center of NGU's campus. Nearby, Self and Trustees Halls, which were completed in 1985, offer a point of comparison; those two dorms opened with a combined capacity of 40 students, according to information from North Greenville University, which also notes that those halls sit directly behind Howard Hall. Simpson Hall, which accommodates 56 female students, is connected to Howard Hall by a long hallway and shares laundry facilities with it, per the school's residence life page.
Part of a Broader Investment Pattern
The Howard Hall project fits into a larger pattern of campus investment at North Greenville University, which has put more than $34 million into campus improvements over the past decade, the Greenville Journal reports. That spending has included other major projects, such as a $10.4 million renovation of a historic building that the school completed in 2024, as reported by The Post and Courier.
At the same Oct. 15 meeting, the 25-member Board of Trustees also approved a post-master's superintendency certificate program, according to the Journal's reporting. The program is designed to prepare school leaders for district-level leadership and superintendent licensure in South Carolina, with NGU's College of Education expected to launch the 24-credit-hour certificate in fall 2027 — the same semester Howard Hall is slated to reopen its doors to students.
