Bonanza on Campus

The nation's colleges and universities are building at such a pace, and to such a level of luxuriance, as to defy augury.

This year, American academic institutions will complete $14 billion of construction and break ground on another $14.5 billion of work. Elaborate campus centers, plush housing complexes, and "extreme" recreation facilities are just a few of the more lavish building types sprouting up on campuses at the nation's 1,538 nonprofit, 631 public, and 297 for-profit four-year schools:

• At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, the $72 million Rams Head Center sports a sports bar with 40 video games, including a helicopter simulator.

• Next year, Ohio University will open a $60 million, 200,000-sf student union on its Athens campus, complete with five-story atrium, three-story entry rotunda, and 250-seat theater.

• Not to be outdone by its in-state neighbor, Ohio State University will start construction in 2007 on a $100 million student center with a 1,200-seat amphitheater and an 1,800-seat ballroom. That's in addition to a $140 million recreation and physical activity center, to be completed next year. Already up and running: the Buckeyes' Adventure Recreation Center, with 4,000 sf of rock-climbing surface and bouldering cave.

• Then there's the $50.8 million rehab job at the University of Cincinnati's 70-year-old student center, followed in 2007 by a new $102.5 million rec center; the $70 million union at the University of Vermont; the University of Arizona's 440,000-sf, $60 million center; and Boston University's fitness/recreation center, replete with 25-person hot tub, wave pool, lazy river, and juice bar.

Many junior colleges are building facilities that rival those at the nation’s four-year schools. Case in point is the 20,000-sf addition to the student services and administration building at East Los Angeles College, which will feature a contemporary façade, complete with a glimmering clock tower. Designed by local architect WWCOT, the addition will consolidate all campus student service functions, from enrollment to financial aid to testing. Rendering: WWCOT

The construction binge also extends to student housing—and bite your tongue if you dare say "dormitory"! While government figures put the average cost for a room at a private four-year college at $3,571 in 2001, a private studio apartment at University Center of Chicago (co-developed by Columbia College and DePaul and Roosevelt Universities) ran $10,526 last year.

At the 300-unit, $36.3 million University Village in Dover, Del., (developed by Atlanta-based Ambling University Development Group), Delaware State University students can rent a 1,241-sf apartment with full-sized beds, full kitchen (with microwave and dishwasher), high-speed DSU-linked Internet access and private phone service, and cable TV.

Four-year schools are not the only institutions of higher learning experiencing a construction gusher. The nation's 1,081 public, 127 private, and 494 for-profit two-year schools are busy adding not just classrooms, but even whole new campuses.

As we report [2] in this issue, America's so-called "junior" colleges are shedding their second-class image by building facilities that rival those at the nation's four-year schools. In an effort to reinforce their sense of "community," many two-year institutions are busy building multi-use facilities that help cement town/gown relationships.

Finally, the sustainability movement has taken firm hold on America's campuses, nowhere more firmly than in the University of California system, whose new Merced complex [3] will be the first entirely LEED Silver campus in the country.

Why all this building activity? Supply and demand, of course. The supply of "Echo Boomers" going to college hit a record 16.6 million last year, thus creating demand to feed, house, recreate, and, oh yes, educate them.

So, enjoy the gold rush while it lasts.