Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) broke ground on the construction site for a new dormitory on Nov. 18.

The new building will help alleviate housing needs, specifically for the K-12 program during the academic year, as it will serve resident graduate students, interns, visiting scientists and regional science meetings, according to Angela Levins, public relations director for DISL.

The building is set to accommodate 63 people on the first floor, which is set to have two beds per room and a single room for a resident assistant. The second floor will have 18 two-bedroom apartments to hold an additional 36 students.

The construction project is supported by the Alabama Legislature's supplemental funding from the FY2022 and FY2023 ETF budgets. The total cost of the project was $14,124,278.

"We appreciate the support of Gov. Kay Ivey's office and our local elected officials in bringing this next chapter of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab to life," DISL Executive Director John Valentine said on the project. "This new dormitory is a valuable asset for our MESC [Marine Environmental Science Consortium] partners, statewide K-12 programs and the community. Thank you again to all of our supporters."

Currently, the campus has two main dorm buildings, the Challenger and Beagle. According to the DISL website, both are used year-round for summer programs and field trip groups. Each dorm has 43 rooms, each containing two twin beds, a dresser, desk, closet space and single-unit air conditioner. Each dorm can hold up to 86 people.

"Those dorms recently underwent renovations to HVAC and life-safety equipment," Levins said. "They are heavily used by our Discovery Hall Program (K-12), who see close to 8,000 students from across Alabama's 67 counties and other states visit during the academic year. Of those, over half spend at least one night in the dormitories."

Levins said the previous building used for graduate student housing housed 12 students in two-bedroom apartments. The building was critically damaged in Hurricane Sally, and DISL was unable to secure FEMA funds to bring it back to code. The old dorm now serves as a storage facility.

The new dorm will provide twice as much housing for graduate students.

Current dorms and other facilities on campus are buildings that have remained since the site was a U.S. Air Force base before it became the sea lab today. Levins said Challenger and Beagle previously were used as barracks.

"All you've got to do is walk around this campus and realize that this was an early warning base for the Air Force back in the 50s and 60s to know that we needed help," Valentine said before the groundbreaking event.

A variety of officials were in attendance for the celebratory event including District 105 State Rep. Chip Brown; State Sen. David Sessions; Patty Etheridge, regional director for Sen. Tommy Tuberville; Chad Niblett, community relations representative for U.S. Rep. Barry Moore; former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl; Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier; Todd Fritch, president of The University of West Alabama; and representatives for Goodwin Mills and Roger and Willard.