Main Campus project will accommodate 540 undergraduates
Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont has announced its intention to partner with AAM 15 Management LLC, to build undergraduate housing on the east side of its main campus. A letter of intent was signed today by UVM and AAM 15.
The $100 million “Catamount Woods” will accommodate approximately 540 undergraduate students in apartments near the southern edge of Centennial Woods. UVM already leases the property to AAM 15, owners of the neighboring DoubleTree Hotel, for use as a parking lot.
“Building new housing is a top priority for the university,” UVM President Suresh Garimella said. “Catamount Woods will provide another attractive residential option for hundreds of our upper-level undergraduate students, offering them an opportunity to live on campus and enhancing the vibrancy of our community."
UVM’s Board of Trustees approved Monday a resolution to authorize a partnership with AAM 15 for this purpose. The details of the agreement are still being finalized, but the project is expected to cost approximately $100 million. The university’s investment would represent roughly a quarter of the total project cost.
“We could not be more excited by the opportunity Catamount Woods provides to add to the housing capacity on our campus,” said Ron Lumbra, chair of the UVM Board of Trustees. “Our ability to move forward with this project in a financially responsible way will yield significant benefits for UVM students and the university’s neighbors. We’re all very pleased at this outcome.”
Barring any delays, the parties hope to begin the permitting process immediately with the goal of breaking ground in early 2024. The goal is to have the building ready for occupancy in time for the Fall 2025 semester.
This project is a continuation of the university’s commitment to providing more housing for its students, faculty, and staff to help address the housing shortage in the area and the state. A housing complex for UVM graduate students and employees is already under construction in South Burlington as part of the university’s partnership with Snyder-Braverman, with initial occupancy expected in Summer 2024.
More information about UVM’s commitment to cooperative solutions in our community is at uvm.edu/future.
About the University of Vermont
Since 1791, the University of Vermont has worked to move humankind forward. UVM’s strengths align with the most pressing needs of our time: the health of our societies and the health of our environment. Our size—large enough to offer a breadth of ideas, resources, and opportunities, yet intimate enough to enable close faculty-student mentorship across all levels of study—allows us to pursue these interconnected issues through cross-disciplinary research and collaboration. Providing an unparalleled educational experience for our students, and ensuring their success, are at the core of what we do. As one of the nation’s first land grant universities, UVM advances Vermont and the broader society through the discovery and application of new knowledge.
UVM is derived from the Latin Universitas Viridis Montis (in English, University of the Green Mountains).
Source: 8.14.2023. BURLINGTON – The University of Vermont
