As the winter semester begins, the sophomore class is starting to plan the upcoming year. But one thing they don’t have to worry about for next year is housing.

According to Dean of Students Sidney Evans, the construction of junior housing is ahead of schedule and will be ready in time for next fall. Formally known as upper-class housing, it will be composed of two neighborhoods of townhouses and apartments, the Village Square and the Village Commons.

Both the Village Square and the Village Commons are composed of single rooms with full-sized beds. These two groupings are to hold around 350 students, though the junior class is larger.

But the administration is confident that all juniors who want to live in junior housing will have the opportunity to do so. They estimate that subtracting those students who will study abroad, serve as resident assistants or live in leadership and theme housing will result in enough housing.

In the case that upper-class housing does not fill all juniors who want to live there, the remainder will be housed in the Woods Creek apartments. Specifically, those students will be placed in Woods Creek Central, which is currently undergoing the remodeling process.

“We’re renovating Woods Creek Central so that will also be ready in fall, because we want Woods Creek to be as comparable as possible to the new housing,” Evans said. “Those units are going to be redone, all of them will have dishwashers, they’ll all have washer dryers like the new units will have, they’ll all have new kitchens, new floorings, ceiling fans.”

The order of assigning apartments will be done through a lottery which will take place in late March or early April. For those planning on study abroad during the next year, the process will not be different. Students can either find replacements for themselves or enlist the school’s help to do so.

In the past, Washington and Lee juniors and seniors have moved off campus, so this housing project has left students with mixed feelings.

Maggie Sands, ‘18, looks forward to the new living style. “I’m excited for both the guys and girls to live in close quarters again,” Sands said.

Evans also said she was excited for the two genders to become closer once again. After composing focus groups to address upper-class housing, it became apparent that the students wanted to ameliorate the “gender divide.”

“Watching people run into each other and be able to have that more organic relationship is going to be really fun,” she said.

As construction continues, Dean of Student Life David Leonard will be sending out an email in the coming weeks which will detail further the status of upper-class housing.