Paddyfote residents have mixed feelings on renovations

Paddyfote Complex, a Florida A&M residence hall, recently received a facelift.

Paddyfote has a reputation of having the smallest rooms on campus; the recent renovations may change the dormitory’s reputation. 

Thefour-building complex’s new restoration cost approximately $18,000, according to FAMU’s Housing Director, Oscar Cromity.

Built in 1967, Paddyfote has received new furniture replacements in buildings A and C said Cromity.

The complex has four buildings: A, B, C and D.  Each building is a four-floor facility, which has 365 bed spaces.

Buildings A and B are designed for male students buildings C and D are designed for female students.

According to Cromity, the 17 bathrooms in all four buildings have been retiled.
Paddyfote Complex has community bathrooms on each hall, and are equipped with several shower stalls, toilets, and sinks. 

In September, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that FAMU is one of the 20 Historically Black Colleges and Universities that will be a beneficiary of $14.25 million for historic preservation grants aimed at providing assistance in the repair of historic buildings.

According to FAMU’s Web site, the school was awarded $700,000 in federal grant money to renovate Sampson Hall.

“We won’t be sure on Paddyfote’s complete renovation until Sampson and Young Hall are taken care of,” Cromity said.  Housing officials say both Sampson and Young Hall are the school’s top priority.

Some Paddyfote residents are not impressed with the outcome of the remodeling.

“Before Paddyfote, I lived in McGuinn,” said Gracia Holmes, 19, a second-year Spanish language student from Boston. “Compared to McGuinn, it’s really small.  The bathrooms are a little cleaner, but they’re small too.”

Some current residents are however, grateful for the changes.

“I appreciate the new changes; I mean the furniture is literally out of the wrapper new,” said Jeremiah Wadley, 18, a first-year computer science student from Atlanta. “The only thing I don’t like are the bathrooms.”

Kaci Black, 18, a first-year pre-med chemistry student from Lakeland said: “It’s not that bad.  It’s small, but you have to understand it’s temporary.  You’re not going to always have to stay there, and it’s part of college life.”

Although some have complained about the state of the hall in the past, some former residents have mixed reactions on Paddyfote’s renovation.
 
“I feel that they should’ve done this years, no, decades ago,” said Nicole Horton, 22, a fourth-year allied health student from Newport News, Va. 

Former Paddyfote resident Alexandrine Archer, 22, an elementary education from Palm Beach said, “I think it’s great…the new changes they made will only make it a better place for new and incoming freshmen.”