Here's how the U. wants to change its 'commuter-campus' status to a campus community

SALT LAKE CITY — One of Taylor Randall's top priorities after being inaugurated as the 17th president at the University of Utah was to "dispel the perception of the U. as a commuter campus."

Not long after his inauguration in March, a plan was put into motion.

The university in September broke ground on the Impact and Prosperity Epicenter. The building — based on the concept of Lassonde Studios — will include over 400 residential units to house 775 students. Additionally, it will contain two research centers: the Sorenson Impact Center and the Center for Business, Health and Prosperity.

Of course, when trying to shift the culture of a campus from commuter-based to community, it takes more than just a few projects, and on Tuesday, the university announced the latest link in the chain — a plan to double on-campus housing, adding 5,000 new student beds by 2030.

To reach that goal, the university will launch a public-private partnership with a company that can design, finance, build and maintain new student housing.

More on-campus options isn't just a top priority for Randall and university leadership, it's what students want, as well, said Andrea Thomas, chief experience officer at the U.

"We've been growing. It was interesting coming out of the pandemic, students actually really want in-person experiences now," Thomas said.

It's also beneficial to students' academic lives.

"We also have research data ... that shows students who live on campus graduate more quickly, get more engaged (and) are more successful, so I think people understand that," Thomas said.

Unlike other peer universities across the nation, the U. lacks on-campus and even near-campus housing, said John Creer, chief real estate officer at the U.

"At institutions of our size in other states, there are typically thousands of purpose-built student housing units," Creer said in a statement. "There just isn't a lot of that housing stock around here. It's unusual, to say the least."

Part of the reason that the U. opted to go the public-private partnership route with the housing additions is that it will allow them to accomplish a lot in a relatively short amount of time.

"We've got a lot to bring to that and I think there are people who are experts in creating housing and housing experiences that are going to bring some really important things to it as well," Thomas said. "I think it just helps us accomplish our goals more quickly and it helps us deliver a better student experience."

Through the partnership, the university will work with a private company that can plan, construct and operate student housing to look and feel like the rest of the rooms, apartments and suites managed by the U.'s Housing and Residential Education.

Over the long-term contract, the university would continue to own the housing and the land beneath it.

"P3 (public-private partnership) arrangements allow higher education institutions to tap into private industry expertise and reserve tuition and state dollars for other projects, while still being able to grow when traditional financing options, including bonding, are limited. Other public universities have launched variations of P3 arrangements, including Arizona State University, Texas A&M, Ohio State, UCLA and the University of Georgia," according to a news release.

In December, the university issued requests for proposals from technical, financial and legal advisers who will help guide the process of selecting a partner.

Simultaneously, the U. will request bonding authority from Utah lawmakers in hopes that they will finance 2,000 of the student housing units independently, at a cost of up to $384 million.

Thomas said the university is still in the process of figuring out how much the 5,000-bed expansion project will cost.

To get a sense of what these housing initiatives will look like, one could imagine a neighborhood main street.

"We want to create a community feel for students. We don't want to have it spread out into a lot of places, we want to bring it together so that students can leverage all of the amenities that we put into it from the other buildings," Thomas said, referencing the close proximity of Lassonde and Kahlert Village.

The Impact and Prosperity Epicenter is also being built close to the aforementioned communities, with plans for the nearby, off-campus Ivory University Homes to be constructed in the area, as well.

This new proposed housing at the University of Utah isn't just a roof over students' heads. It's a social enterprise that will fund scholarships with rent https://t.co/sW5o0IaMmFpic.twitter.com/bFCiTCCAWu

— MarjorieCortez (@DN_Marjorie) July 30, 2021

"One of the benefits to students for living on campus is really to build their network and once they graduate, having the network of people that you met and that you work with and that you are in classes with, that's really an important social part of college," Thomas said. "One of the things that has happened for undergraduate students, in particular, is they've been missing that social connection piece."

As far as a timeline for the project, Thomas said that the university expects to have a consultant selected by the end of February. After sorting through bids from potential developers, construction on the first new buildings will begin in 2024, with an estimated completion date of 2030.

As far as shorter-term housing projects, the U. has a few in the works, including:

• 430 beds at the fourth wing of Kahlert Village, slated to open in fall 2023.
• 775 beds at the Impact and Prosperity Epicenter, which will open in August 2024.
• 504 beds at the University West Village, opening in July 2023.
• 552 beds in the (off-campus) Ivory University House, which will be privately owned and operated by the Ivory Foundation, opening in fall 2023.

"We'll essentially more than double the amount of housing that we have within the next seven and a half years," Thomas said.

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