Shango/College Hall Reconstruction
This project is part of a comprehensive, thoughtful and planned approach by New York State, SUNY and SUNY New Paltz to make significant, long-term investments in our campus infrastructure, with the express purpose of enhancing the student experience for generations to come.
Project: Demolition and Reconstruction
Estimated Construction Start: Spring 2026
Estimated Construction Finish: 2030
Estimated Cost: $110M (Source: State Capital Funding)
Summary: One of the most historic buildings on the SUNY New Paltz campus has reached the end of its functional lifespan. This mixed-use, residential and academic facility is facing issues with accessibility, energy efficiency and other quality standards that cannot be remedied through renovation and retrofitting alone. Substantial efforts have been made, and will continue, to preserve and celebrate its rich history before it goes offline. Shango/College Hall will be replaced by a new, fully academic building that will add an estimated 10,000 square feet of critically needed academic space, in a location on campus that is far better suited for academic purposes than for residential facilities.
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2026. This will be a multi-year project. We currently estimate that the new building will open its doors in 2030.
More specific details about what students can expect from Peregrine Dining Hall after this renovation will be shared with the campus community as the project moves forward.
Shango/College Hall, originally built in 1951, is reaching the end of its functional lifespan. The structure of the building has a number of issues that make it poorly suited for a 21st century campus experience, including deficiencies in accessibility and energy usage that are not up to contemporary standards and cannot be remedied through renovation or retrofitting.
For this reason, state and campus facilities management specialists have determined that a total demolition and construction of a new building is a necessary investment to best serve our campus community into the future.
In addition to addressing structural issues (accessibility, energy efficiency and others), the project will repurpose this mixed-use, academic and residential building as a fully academic facility.
The new building will provide modern classrooms, faculty offices, meeting spaces, rehearsal areas for musicians, and other amenities, adding an estimated 10,000 square feet of critically needed academic space in a location on campus that is far better suited for academic purposes than for residential facilities.
The new building will no longer include any residential spaces. Plans have long been in place to offset this repurposing of housing capacity via the addition of new fourth floors at Awosting Hall (renovation completed in 2024) and Mohonk Hall (completion projected for 2025).
The building will continue to serve resident students in the fall 2025 semester.
During the winter intersession between fall 2025 and spring 2026, the University will support these students in relocating to Gage Hall for the spring 2026 semester.
Academic programs that currently reside in Shango/College Hall will be temporarily moved to different areas of campus during that winter intercession for the duration of the reconstruction, with every effort made to ensure that programs have access to the facilities, resources and proximity to colleagues required to effectively serve and support their stakeholders. More information about these temporary moves will be shared as details are finalized.
As one of the oldest buildings on the SUNY New Paltz campus, Shango/College Hall has touched the lives of countless Hawks across the generations. While Shango/College Hall unfortunately cannot continue to operate in its current form, the institution is dedicated to honoring and preserving that rich history.
Shango/College Hall initially served as the University’s first Student Union and dining hall in the 1950s. In the 1960s, the building was repurposed as a residence hall, open to all students and with emphasis on providing programming and community for the campus’s growing population of students of color.
Over the decades, it expanded and evolved as a hub of programs including the Department of Black Studies (the second oldest such academic department in the nation), the Scholars’ Mentorship Program (now located in the Student Union) and the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Center, among many others.
In preparing for this transition, campus leadership and Facilities Management have paid particular attention to the murals that line the walls of Shango/College Hall. Many of these were hand-painted by students who once called the building home, as moving expressions of Black history and the experiences of Black people in America across the generations. Many efforts have been made to physically preserve these historic works, and the campus community has been kept informed of these efforts via frequent updates shared along the way. While it ultimately has not been possible to preserve the physical murals due to the nature of the wall material on which they rest, the University has digitally scanned and photographed these works of art to make it possible for them to be reproduced in the future.
Yes. The Department of Alumni Relations is planning multiple opportunities for alumni to share their stories, convey their feelings and priorities, and visit Shango/College Hall to see it one more time before it is transformed. We will be sharing more details with our Orange & Blue alumni network soon.
