Student Housing: UNM Gets Go Ahead to Create New Student Housing
New housing to be located west of “The Pit”
On Tuesday, Jan. 12 the University of New Mexico Board of Regents unanimously approved the concept forwarded by American Campus Communities for development of an 864-bed student housing community on UNM’s south campus – currently the home of University Stadium and university’s renowned basketball arena, “The Pit.”
The new student housing community will be located in the area south of Avenida Cesar Chavez, west of “The Pit” and east of Interstate 25. Construction is expected to start late in the spring of 2010 and the community will be housing students starting in fall 2011.
Students will be housed in furnished apartment units complete with high-speed Internet and private-bedroom, private-bathroom accommodations. Four individual rooms are joined by a central living and learning area, and these units will then join together to create larger living areas.
A community center for the complex will be located near Avenida Cesar Chavez. This center is designed to be the “heart and soul” of the new housing community. The center will be connected to UNM’s main campus via a shuttle loop and will include management and residence life paraprofessional functions for the community, a leasing center, study rooms, computer labs, recreation center and other places for students to socialize.
The housing center will be consistent with the university’s Pueblo Revival look and will include open spaces with xeriscaped landscaping. The development will be energy efficient as well, meeting the United States Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards.
The new student community will be approximately 18.5 acres in size, and will require $1.6 million in roadway infrastructure improvements to the area. The total expected project cost is $41.6 million and no taxpayer or university money will be used.
“This is the first exciting step in dramatically modernizing the student residential experience at UNM,” said Jason Wills, ACC senior vice president. “We are very excited about the opportunity to partner with the University of New Mexico and look forward to supporting the university in achieving its academic and student development objectives.”
Media Contact: Benson Hendrix, (505) 277-1816
[unm.edu]
