Originally called New Hall North, Reese Hall is part of the 1966 Presidential Complex of residence halls and dining area. The facility is named for William B. Reese, the sixth president of the university. It was built with a capacity slightly in excess of five hundred residents. It had the same floor plan as Carrick and Humes, with two double rooms connected by a bathroom and a foyer, which leads to the hallway through a common door. Melson Contractors of Shelbyville completed the building in 1967.
In 2013 the university announced that its master plan for student residential facilities would replace the 1960 dormitories of the Presidential Complex, as well as Morrill Hall and the Apartment Residence Hall. The Fred D. Brown Hall and new halls on the former site of Bill Gibbs Hall and Shelbourne Towers Apartment Building would allow the 1960s halls to be razed and replaced by smaller, better-designed residence halls.