Trustees OK residence hall construction agreement, approve other campus projects

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —Purdue Trustees on Friday (Aug. 3) approved the terms of a public-private partnership to construct two new residence halls on the university’s West Lafayette campus and signed off on several other campus construction projects.

Michael B. Cline, senior vice president for administrative operations, also provided the board an update on the Campus Master Plan.

As the size of Purdue’s undergraduate student population reaches a historic high and student demand to live on campus continues to grow, the board in June empowered a team to explore the construction of two new residence halls, Third Street North and Meredith South.

In July, the university selected Plenary Properties Purdue LLC as the preferred proposer for the housing facilities, which will add nearly 1,300 new beds to the university’s existing housing stock.

The board delegated to Purdue treasurer and chief financial officer Bill Sullivan the authority to negotiate and finalize the agreement, and construction is expected to begin later this year. Both residence halls are scheduled to be online for the 2020-21 academic year.

“On-campus living is correlated with higher GPAs and retention rates and a quicker time to graduation. This partnership will provide a solid foundation for even more Boilermakers who wish to reap these benefits,” said Beth McCuskey, vice provost for student life.

Third Street North will be located north of the Black Cultural Center along Russell Street and will include 570 beds. Meredith South will be located south of the existing Meredith Residence Hall along First Street and will include 728 beds. Purdue Dining & Catering will manage “grab and go” dining operations at both residence halls.

In other business, trustees approved heating, ventilation and air conditioning work in the Heine Pharmacy Building and the Physics Building; sewer replacement and bathroom repairs in Hillenbrand Residence Hall; bathroom renovations in Shreve Residence Hall; fume hood exhaust fan replacement in the Wetherill Laboratory of Chemistry; and the installation of exterior fiber-optic cable to more than 50 buildings and interior fiber-optic cable to 193 telecommunications rooms across the West Lafayette campus, and enhancement of wired and wireless aspects of the campus’ data network.

The board further voted to supplement the Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with the city of West Lafayette to place the proposed renovation of the Newman Road railroad overpass within the jurisdiction of the interlocal joint board, the city-university committee that is responsible for the State Street Redevelopment Project. The overpass serves as a gateway to the Purdue Aerospace District, and its replacement with a modern structure is important for future development in the area.  In addition, the board approved an amendment to the State Street Redevelopment Project Agreement, which will allow excess revenue from the 231 Purdue TIF District (TIF 2) to be used for financing assistance to the Purdue Research Foundation and the university for infrastructure and other projects in TIF 2. The West Lafayette City Council previously approved this measure in May. 

Sources: Beth McCuskey, bmccuske@purdue.edu

Michael B. Cline, 765-494-8000, mbcline@purdue.edu