Pound Residence Hall will extend its return from retirement for the third consecutive year to house both University of Nebraska-Lincoln freshmen and upperclassman students this fall.

Pound, which had originally been taken offline in early 2014, will remain open in response to student demand for on-campus housing, said Sue Gildersleeve, director of University Housing.

According to current estimates, 11 of Pound’s 12 floors are expected to be used, Gildersleeve said.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity of continuing to offer Pound for upper-division single-student housing as well as double rooms for some freshmen,” Gildersleeve said.

Housing contracts will continue to be accepted through August. But housing officials have a clear enough picture to know that Pound, which has housed UNL students at 513 N. 17th St. since 1969, will be again pushed into use when fall classes begin in August.

Overall, it is the fourth time in the last four academic years that residence halls that originally were scheduled to be taken offline have been reopened in response to student demand. In 2013, the university re-activated Cather Hall for one year to accommodate a larger-than-expected number of students who wished to live on campus.

To fill demand for on-campus housing, UNL has opened three suite-style residence halls east of 17th and R streets since 2010, adding more than 1,600 beds. It also is constructing a new 370-bed hall on East Campus that will offer a mix of traditional and apartment-style units. The facility, which will open in 2017, will replace Burr and Fedde residence halls.

Also in 2017, a new dining complex to replace the 50-year old Cather-Pound-Neihardt Dining Center will open. The state-of-the-art facility also will include a convenience store, sandwich shop, residence hall student government offices, a student program/meeting center and new University Housing offices.