Officials at the University of Connecticut are seeking conceptual proposals from developers and property owners to build student housing at the university”™s Stamford campus.
As a part of Gov. Dannel P. Malloy”™s $1.5 billion Next Generation Connecticut initiative ”“ to increase enrollment and update facilities ”“ the university intends to provide housing for roughly 400 students at the now commuter-centric campus in Stamford.
Currently officials are examining housing plans that would replace the university”™s parking garage on the northwest corner of Broad Street and Washington Boulevard. However administrators are open to proposals using land within walking distance to the school, said UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz.
“We want to capture a very wide net and see what ideas people bring to us for our site or their site,” Reitz said. “We”™re eager to see what property owners and developers will propose.”
Reitz said that with a project budget of $10 million, the school intends to keep the housing designs in line with today”™s design standards, as well as students”™ desire for top-tier amenities. Proposals for designs must demonstrate a viable financing structure and charge students rent in the range of $800 a month per bed.
Proposals to use property outside of the school”™s parking lot must be within a 20-minute walk to the school or within a 15-minute commute by public transportation.
If proposals exceed the $10 million budget, Reitz said developers will need to find additional sources of revenue, propose creative public-private partnerships, or provide the capital themselves.
Reitz said the $800 rental rate was in line with the university”™s housing rates at its other campuses, while still recognizing the standard rate for downtown Stamford apartments.
“We would never want to provide housing students can”™t afford and would automatically be priced out of,” Reitz said. The units will range from one to three bedrooms and will include separate spaces for a living room and kitchen.
The facility doesn”™t need to include a dining hall, or other traditional features found in a dormitory. However, UConn”™s student life division is working with the school”™s master planner to get a sense of what student housing should provide in terms of security, amenities and other factors.
“It will be an interesting blend because it will be both a resident campus and commuter campus,” Reitz said. “I think it will be a nice blend of student experiences. We do have a lot of students that rent privately (in Stamford). This will give them an opportunity to live closer to each other and to build a community among themselves.”
Over the next 10 years, the Next Generation initiative will add 6,580 undergraduates to the schoolwide system and hire an additional 259 faculty members. In Stamford, enrollment is expected to double and campus”™s programs in digital media and risk management are expected to expand.
Responses to the university”™s request for conceptual proposals are due no later than Jan. 17. The university will host a walkthrough of the parking garage property for interested parties within the next couple weeks.
