Students, faculty and staff will celebrate a new addition to the UAB community with a ribbon-cutting for the McMahon residence hall, which will open this fall. (Photography: Andrea Mabry)Students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham will have the opportunity to enjoy its newest on-campus residence hall in fall 2021.
The McMahon residence hall — the first Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified building at UAB — will be celebrated with a ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Wednesday, May 26. The event will take place at 1600 10th Ave. South.
“UAB is excited to open this new, state-of-the-art residence hall featuring exceptional amenities and resources to further enhance campus life,” said UAB President Ray Watts. “McMahon Hall is emblematic of our record-setting enrollment over five years and increasing demand for our student experience that is second to none, as we continue building one of the most vibrant, technologically advanced and sustainable campuses in the nation.”
A well-known business and community leader in Birmingham, UA System Board of Trustees Trustee Emeritus John McMahon, Jr., has supported numerous civic and public efforts of statewide significance during his career, and he has had an incredible impact on education, health care, and the arts, particularly as it relates to the campuses of The University of Alabama System, positively affecting all Alabama citizens.
The $73 million, 231,089-square-foot residence hall is located near the Campus Green in the housing core of the campus — the south half of the block bordered by Ninth and 10th avenues South and 16th and 17th streets. The 712-bed residence hall includes dedicated study spaces, a storm shelter, multiuse office space, and a dining venue with three food vendors and seating capacity for 250.
“McMahon Hall will serve as a hub for residential student living and learning engagement,” said John Jones III, Ph.D., vice president for UAB Student Affairs. “Students who live on campus at UAB are retained at a higher rate than their off-campus counterparts. McMahon Hall offers the unique amenities our students and their families are looking for while students make UAB their home during their collegiate career. The Housing and Residence Life staff promote the ideal of seamless learning where students connect real-world experiences with formal classroom knowledge in order to realize responsibility for themselves, their community and their world. This state-of-the-art facility is added to existing residential halls where students live, study, engage and rejuvenate. We are proud of McMahon Hall and look forward to the vibrancy of student life that will take place here beginning fall 2021.”
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The McMahon residence building project architect is Goodwyn Mills Cawood. Senior Vice President Bob Gray, who worked on the project, will represent the company at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Self-parking for the ribbon-cutting will be available at the site. UAB President Ray L. Watts will host the event.
Fully vaccinated individuals may attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony without face coverings. All those in attendance should still maintain social distancing. For more information, please visit www.uab.edu/uabunited.