Months of construction at Mack Hall, on the corner of Neil and 11th Avenues, will soon end. Now replete with shiny new amenities and a posh interior, only one question remains: Who wants to live there?Despite its various improvements, the very students it was redesigned to serve are opting for other campus housing, blaming a combination of adverse living conditions due to renovations and a general dislike of the unique living requirements.Last year, the residence hall became the home of OSU’s Stadium Cooperative Scholarship Housing Program. The program requires that students work five to eight hours a week in the dorm and maintain a 2.8 grade point average.The students maintain the dorm by working in the main office, in the dining commons or in housekeeping. In exchange for their work, students receive a considerable amount of financial aid from the university. For example, a two-person dorm room at Mack Hall would be $530 cheaper than the same room at Smith Hall.Stadium scholarship recipients also make about $10 per hour.Steve Kremer, director of the Office of Residence Life, said that only 120 students have applied to live in the 280 rooms available in Mack Hall this fall. He added that the continuance of any cooperative program depends on the incoming students and whether they are willing to work. Mack Hall became the new home for the program in autumn quarter 1999 after the decision was made to relocate from Ohio Stadium. The Department of Athletics has promised to contribute $2.34 million to help pay for the renovations to Mack Hall that are now almost complete. Crews have removed the earth around the building’s base, creating a new entrance to the ground floor, where most of the renovations took place.The ground floor contains a new main office, student manager offices and the hall director’s office. What was once storage area for the building’s maintenance has now been converted into a sitting area.The floor also boasts a conference lounge, a library and a new fitness room.Incoming residents will also find a multi-purpose room with a pool table, an air hockey table, a big screen TV and a convenience store, as well as laundry facilities.The first floor is a combination of living quarters and public space, consisting of a conference room and a study room with a fireplace.Inside the south entrance to the first floor, there is a history den with five new display cases for trophies and archival material.”The idea wasn’t to make it special, but housing (officials) recognized that Mack Hall has qualities like old architectural detailing, fireplace rooms and wood paneling that could be enhanced,” said Craig Henry, captain of the Mack Hall Phase One Project. Henry said that major renovations began in June 1999, and that residents were told in a letter that construction would continue through autumn quarter.Those in charge of the project thought it would be completed in January, Kremer said, but the work continues. Chris Orr, a junior anthropology and Japanese major, said that “the construction made an already unbearable program even more unbearable.” Orr will move Morrill Tower in the fall.Alicia Brown, a sophomore communications major, has decided to move to Drackett Tower. “I’m leaving partly because of the construction, but partly because I don’t want to work,” she said.Henry said there are multiple reasons why the renovation has taken so long to complete.”Change of scope, lack of work force, incorrect work and time constraints contributed to the lengthened time it has taken to finish,” Henry said.Henry explained that the amount of repair work couldn’t be assessed until the demolition had taken place. Once the demolition was done, it became obvious that the scope of the project had broadened.Henry added that because of the huge amount of construction going on in Central Ohio, the number of electricians and plumbers needed for the project could not be obtained. Even worse, some contractors had done work incorrectly, adding time to the project.Henry explained that time constraints, such as delaying the start of each day’s construction until 9 a.m. out of consideration for the residents, slowed progress.