July last year was one of the worst moments in history of the University of Nevada. There was a boiler room explosion that saw two of the dormitories on the campus destroyed. This left more than 1,300 students without accommodation.
The university administration found them temporary residence at the Circus Circus Casino after they struck a deal with its operator Eldorado Resorts. Since last year, the students have been residing at the Casino and enjoying the quality of life that comes with living in a high-end casino. However, according to a report by calvinayre.com, it is time they went back to their old way of life.
Repair to the damaged dormitories began in November of last year. According to a report by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, work on Nye Hall, one of the damaged dormitories, is almost complete. The hall will be opened in August this year. Argenta Hall, the other hall that was destroyed in the explosion, is not going to be ready until next year.
With that being the case, the university administration does not see the need to renew the contract with Eldorado Resorts, much to the displeasure of the gaming operator. UNR is planning on depending on temporary private apartments until their students are fully settled back to their old way of life.
But even with these plans underway, still, this whole event has distracted learning in many ways. In fact, some lecturers fear this may affect the general approach and impact on the quality of knowledge the students would be able to retain after school. And that they might have to repeat teaching the current modules.
The completed hall is going to accommodate 838 students, who were previously living in Nye Hall. The remaining 838, who were living in the Argenta Hall, will be temporarily accommodated at the Uncommon Reno and Canyan Flats for the 2020/2021 school year.
Both Uncommon Reno and Canyan flats are new and their construction is not expected to be complete until the expected move in by students in August. The university administration hopes the construction will be completed before then to avoid further complications such as students sleeping on university benches.
The university’s insurance claim is going to cover the costs of repair to the damaged areas as well as the costs for temporary accommodation. The cost of accommodating the students at the private apartments is $10.1 million, which is much lower than the $21.67 million that was paid to the Circus Circus casino during the agreement last year.
The students were not the only ones enjoying the upside of the agreement between Eldorado Resorts and the university administration. Besides the extra boost in income, Circus Circus casino also received much welcome tax relief.
During the student stay, the hotel rooms were temporarily regarded as transient lodging. According to the laws of the state, transient lodgings are not susceptible to tax. Therefore, the casino was exempted from paying the 13.5% hotel room tax during the financial year 2019/2020.
