Eastern Michigan University (EMU), in Ypsilanti, Mich., recently selected Gilbane as a development and builder partner to lead a three-year campus housing initiative that will build two new residence halls, renovate existing campus housing, and demolish outdated buildings.
EMU and Gilbane Development Company have agreed to invest more than $200 million to expand campus housing with the construction of Lakeview Apartments, a 400-bed residence hall adjacent to the school’s Student Center; and Westview Apartments, a 300-bed residence hall that will serve as a gateway between EMU’s west and main campuses.
The University is also investing in the renovation of 2,025 existing beds with improvements that include new air conditioning, new finishes in bathroom areas, and the installation of life-safety technology. Shared amenities spaces and upgrades will facilitate social interaction among residents.
This equity initiative, known as the “Welcome Home 2025” plan, represents an acceleration of infrastructure and facilities investment that has been underway at EMU for several years. “It is now time to turn our attention to a leading student mandate—to revitalize University housing to meet the needs of today’s students,” said EMU’s President James Smith, in a prepared statement.
BENIGN NEGLECT IN HOUSING STOCK
The goals of this plan are to keep student housing affordable, to ensure a high-quality resident life experience, and to get students engaged in the design process. In 2018, the University retained Rieth Jones Advisors to coordinate the Master Plan process, which included surveying students about their interests and demands. In April 2019, the University’s student government approved a resolution that noted the majority of on-campus housing hadn’t been renovated in over 50 years. Last July, the University sent RFPs for the housing construction and renovation to four firms, and its Board of Regents approved the partnership with Gilbane Development Company last December 9.
The project team includes a design-build joint venture between Gilbane Building Company and Clark Construction, with Mackey Mitchell Architects as the project’s AOR and Moody Nolan as associate design architect. Gilbane Development Company is the developer and financing coordinator for the project whose construction is scheduled to begin next fall and be completed by the fall of 2025.
This team has collectively worked on 55 student housing projects that delivered over 60,000 beds during the last 30 years.
BOND FINANCING
However, the University is emphatic that it is not interested in privatizing its student housing. “EMU will continue to own all on-campus student housing facilities,” it states on its website. “EMU will also continue to operate all aspects of the residence life operation, including hiring/supervising RAs, processing housing applications and assigning rooms, collecting payments from students, and managing compliance with housing agreements.”
To pay for this project, the University entered into a ground lease agreement with a 501(c)3 tax-exempt entity that will issue tax-exempt bonds underwritten by Barclays. The nonprofit entity is responsible for servicing the debt. Gilbane and Clark will receive $200-plus million for construction activity, plus $135 million for renovations over the term of the agreement, as well as a property management fee to maintain the facilities.
Related Stories
| Aug 11, 2010
Residence hall designed specifically for freshman
Hardin Construction Company's Austin, Texas, office is serving as GC for the $50 million freshman housing complex at the University of Houston. Designed by HADP Architecture, Austin, the seven-story, 300,000-sf facility will be located on the university's central campus and have 1,172 beds, residential advisor offices, a social lounge, a computer lab, multipurpose rooms, a fitness center, and a...
| Aug 11, 2010
University of Florida's traditionally modern graduate building
The University of Florida's Hough Hall Graduate Studies Building was designed by Rowe Architects, Tampa, and Sasaki Associates, Boston, to blend with the school's traditional collegiate gothic architecture outside, but reflect a 21st-century education facility inside. Tallahassee-based Ajax Building Corporation is constructing the $19 million facility, which will have traditional exterior detai...
| Aug 11, 2010
Construction under way on LEED Platinum DOE energy lab
Centennial, Colo.-based Haselden Construction has topped out the $64 million Research Support Facilities, located on the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) campus in Golden, Colo. Designed by RNL and Stantec to achieve LEED Platinum certification and net zero energy performance, the 218,000-sf facility will feature natural ventilation through operable ...
| Aug 11, 2010
Stimulus funding helps get NOAA project off the ground
The award-winning design for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s new Southwest Fisheries Science Center replacement laboratory saw its first sign of movement last month with a groundbreaking ceremony held in La Jolla, Calif. The $102 million project is funded primarily by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
| Aug 11, 2010
New Jersey's high-tech landscaping facility
Designed to enhance the use of science and technology in Bergen County Special Services' landscaping programs, the new single-story facility at the technical school's Paramus campus will have 7,950 sf of classroom space, a 1,000-sf greenhouse (able to replicate different environments, such as rainforest, desert, forest, and tundra), and 5,000 sf of outside landscaping and gardening space.
| Aug 11, 2010
Florida International University's cantilevered design
Suffolk Construction's Miami-Dade business unit is serving as GC for the $14 million School of International and Public Affairs building at the University Park Campus of Florida International University. Designed by Arquitectonica, Miami, the five-story, 58,408-sf building will have a café and three auditoriums on the ground level; the largest auditorium will have a 40-foot cantilever abov...
| Aug 11, 2010
Research Facility Breaks the Mold
In the market for state-of-the-art biomedical research space in Boston's Longwood Medical Area? Good news: there are still two floors available in the Center for Life Science | Boston, a multi-tenant, speculative high-rise research building designed by Tsoi/Kobus & Associates, Boston, and developed by Lyme Properties, Hanover, N.
| Aug 11, 2010
Precast All the Way
For years, precast concrete has been viewed as a mass-produced product with no personality or visual appeal—the vanilla of building materials. Thanks to recent technological innovations in precast molds and thin veneers, however, that image is changing. As precast—concrete building components that are poured and molded offsite—continues to develop a vibrant personality all it...
| Aug 11, 2010
Living and Learning Center, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
From its humble beginnings as a tiny pharmaceutical college founded by 14 Boston pharmacists, the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences has grown to become the largest school of its kind in the U.S. For more than 175 years, MCPHS operated solely in Boston, on a quaint, 2,500-student campus in the heart of the city's famed Longwood Medical and Academic Area.
| Aug 11, 2010
Giants 300 University Report
University construction spending is 13% higher than a year ago—mostly for residence halls and infrastructure on public campuses—and is expected to slip less than 5% over the next two years. However, the value of starts dropped about 10% in recent months and will not return to the 2007–08 peak for about two years.
