Five years later, the Glen Towers are finally finished

By Sarah Sternhagen, Editor-in-Chief

All four Glen Towers are back online for the 2025-26 school year. The completed renovations bring the Glen to full capacity with 1,700 students living in the dorm complex. 

The towers each hold 380-450 students, and have one RA for every floor and an RLC for each building. Each tower took one year to undergo renovations, with Towson University deciding to stagger the construction so only one was out of commission at a time. 

The total project was originally budgeted at $46 million and took five years to complete, with planning being another two years. It included facade renovations, mechanical upgrades and improvements to the plaza surrounding the Glen. Beyond having on-campus housing at full again, it also means there’s more staff to run the buildings now.

“It’s been odd to not have 48 RA’s, to have four RLC’s,” Associate Director of Residence Life at the Glen Complex Lisa Simmons-Barth said. “For me, it’s like our team is back together again.”

Construction was slated to start in fall of 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic pushed it back. That meant Towson hadn’t placed any students in Tower C—the first one to undergo renovations—for that year. 

“The delay helped, though, for us to respond to having necessary isolation housing for folks that were on campus and tested positive for COVID,” Simmons-Barth said. “It was helpful to have an empty building where we could house students.”

Despite the initial delay, construction started in 2021 with Tower C.

Design Collective was the firm tasked with making the new facade and mechanical enhancements. They also designed Towson’s Residence Tower and Student Union expansion. The Glen renovations had its own challenges though.

The way the old towers were designed meant the concrete slabs that made up the walls and floors didn’t have coverings on the outside, so they were fully exposed to the elements.

“Terrible for an exterior envelope,” Eric Wohnsigl, principal at Design Collective for the Glen Towers renovation said. The exposed walls and floors make water leaks more common and heat transfers easily into the building, making it colder in the winter.

The new terracotta panels, the red facade, are part of the new drainage system and further waterproof the building. The new windows are also thermally broken, meaning they keep the heat in better.

While most changes were made to the outside of the buildings, the biggest changes to the inside of the towers were new mechanical systems. Each room’s new AC unit controls itself.

During construction residence life had to think of noise impact. Residence life coordinated with the builders so quiet hours could be respected. Since the towers are so close to each other, Simmons-Barth was particularly worried about noise level.

“We had earplugs purchased,” Barth said. “I was very concerned about noise impact on students.”

Luckily, noise wasn’t a big issue. Quiet hours were still respected and loud drilling started later in the day. 

The Glen patio also got a new look, with more sitting spaces and greenery around the towers.

“People want to feel good when they’re home,” Director of Residence Life Neil Andriot said. “And the more that we can do to make sure we’re providing good, sound, healthy structures for our students, the more successful they’re going to be able to be.”