MSU Denver celebrates groundbreaking for its first residence hall

Metropolitan State University of Denver embarked on a new era Wednesday, as University leaders, students and staff gathered to celebrate groundbreaking for the first on-campus student housing complex in the University’s 60-year history.

“This is really the beginning of a transformation,” said MSU Denver President Janine Davidson, Ph.D. “This is a huge step for this University.”

Located on the north side of campus across from Ball Arena, the 12-story Summit House is scheduled to open in 2027 and will provide 550 student beds, a new home for the University’s Classroom to Career Hub, and dining and retail space. The $117 million project, a partnership with Columbia Ventures, is being funded by philanthropic gifts and by bonds. University leaders said the bond debt will be repaid with revenue generated  by the residence hall. Construction costs will not be paid through the University’s general operating budget.

That philanthropic support includes a $10 million anonymous gift announced Sept. 5. The gift is dedicated for ongoing building maintenance and housing scholarships, Shelley Thompson, associate vice president of University Advancement, told MSU Denver’s Board of Trustees at a meeting earlier this month.

“This planned gift is very, very inspiring for us,” Thompson said. “The goal of this donor is really to keep the cost of living on this campus within reach for as many of our students as possible.”

Thompson added that the gift will also include naming recognition that will be determined at a future date.

Wednesday, University leaders said the project will create a more vibrant on-campus community while also addressing concerns about the availability of downtown housing for students.

RELATED: MSU Denver’s first student-housing building promises to transform campus life

Davidson recalled that MSU Denver was founded 60 years ago to serve students in the heart of Denver who might otherwise not have access to higher education. Over the past six decades, however, downtown Denver has been transformed. “It’s gotten really expensive here, and students have been priced out,” Davidson said.

A recent survey found that several thousand of the University’s nearly 18,000 students travel more than 40 minutes to get to campus. “So, I have a lot of faith that we’ll have no trouble filling 550 beds,” Davidson said.

The new student residence hall is the first phase of a two-building Living and Learning Hub that will include a second 12-story building. A project of the Auraria Campus, also with partner Columbia Ventures, the second structure will provide more than 300 workforce housing units, which will be offered to income-qualified residents, including campus community members. It will also  serve as the new home of the Auraria Early Learning Center, a child-care center currently located on the south side of campus.

MSU Denver’s student-housing building is projected to be self-sustaining in its first year and to begin making meaningful financial contributions to University-wide initiatives in the future.

Kristin Hultquist, chair of the University’s Board of Trustees, said being able to live on campus when she attended college provided her, a first-generation college student, an opportunity to connect, to get involved on her campus and “to graduate on time without debt.”

MSU Denver student Nicole Mendoza is also the first in her family to attend college. Mendoza, who expects to graduate in December with a degree in Cybersecurity, said on-campus housing and the new home for MSU Denver’s Classroom to Career Hub, will benefit future students. Mendoza said that, like many first-generation students, she initially had trouble balancing a full-time job, family obligations and studies. When her anxiety escalated “I had to pause school,” Mendoza said. “But I never gave up on education and MSU Denver never gave up on me.”

Learn more about MSU Denver’s student housing building.