USC begins demolition of 70-year-old residence hall where new student dorm is planned
Shortly after 8 a.m Friday, the powerful steel jaws of a rumbling 45-ton excavator pierced the blended brick facade of the McBryde residence hall on Blossom Street, sending a gray cloud of rubble tumbling three stories to the ground below.
The demolition of the 70-year-old dorm, which got underway Friday and is expected to last about a month, closes the book on one of the University of South Carolina’s oldest residence halls.
“It’s always a little bit bittersweet,” said April Barnes, director of university housing. “If you think about how many students lived here, had their experience begin here, formed their friendships and their community. There’s just a lot of memories within McBryde.”
When the dust settles on the dorm’s demolition, the university will begin construction of a 900-bed residence hall at the site, which abuts the Hollings Special Collections Library, adjacent to the Thomas Cooper Library.
The construction will mark the first major student housing project undertaken as part of USC Next, an ambitious 10-year master plan aimed at managing the university’s growth amid a period of record enrollment.
Between construction of the new residence hall and the simultaneous addition of a new wing at the nearby Honors College dorm, the university will be adding more than 1,000 beds as part of the $185 million student housing project.
McBryde, which housed about 250 students prior to its closure earlier this year, was targeted for demolition due to its age, deteriorating condition and a desire among university officials to revitalize the core of campus.
“Being adjacent to Thomas Cooper and adjacent to the student union and a very short distance from the Horseshoe, combined with the condition of this building, (the replacement of McBryde) emerged as one of the first priorities in our master plan,” university architect Derek Gruner explained. “Trying to maintain a building of this age can become really an onerous task for housing.”
Completed in 1955, amid a post-World War II surge in enrollment, McBryde originally consisted of seven three-story buildings arranged in a U-shape around a shaded courtyard.
In its early days, the residence complex was known as Fraternity Row because it housed USC fraternity members and served as the center of Greek life on campus.
While the fraternities that occupied McBryde relocated to Greek Village in the early aughts, the dorm retained its all-male character until just a couple years ago, when it began welcoming first-year female students.
The six-story residence hall that will replace McBryde was designed to match its mid-century modern aesthetic while offering the amenities typical of a contemporary student dorm.
In addition to having the in-room amenities that modern students desire, the new residence hall will include study rooms and student lounges to foster interaction and create spaces for community to develop outside the classroom.
“The new building that’s going to replace McBryde is going to be enormously important to the student experience,” Gruner said. “These new residence halls offer such a more integrated environment for not just living, but learning and community.”
The future dorm, which has yet to be named, is expected to open in the fall of 2028.
During construction, the university will close Sumter Street to vehicular and foot traffic from Blossom Street to Greene Street, in order to give contractors room to work and ensure they don’t interact with students.
Depending on how traffic in the area responds to the temporary closure, the university could move to permanently close the thoroughfare to vehicular traffic, as it did the portion of Greene Street in front of USC’s student union.
“We’re thinking about it,” Gruner said. “But it’s a city street. It requires city council support. There’s a lot of hurdles that have to be cleared.”
In addition to adding student housing, the university has several other campus construction projects that will begin taking shape over the next year.
They include a major renovation of the McKissick Building, located at the east corner of the historic Horseshoe; an upgrade to historic Barnwell College, overlooking Gibbes Green; and a multiphase modernization and reconfiguration of Thomas Cooper Library.
This story was originally published May 9, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "USC begins demolition of 70-year-old residence hall where new student dorm is planned."