University of Utah sells off-campus apartments in downtown Salt Lake City

The University of Utah will no longer offer student housing in downtown Salt Lake City after approving the sale of two off-campus apartment buildings.

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that the university's board of trustees has voted to accept an offer from a private company for the buildings known as Downtown Commons I and II.

Combined, the two apartments covered a little more than an acre and could house around 60 students. The rooms were reserved for upper-division students with at least one year of college completed.

But students often didn't want to live that far away from campus and figure out transportation, says Sean Grube, associate vice president for housing and dining services. Most of the time, the apartments were sitting at 75% occupancy; on-campus housing is at 100% with "a robust waitlist."

Danny Wall, the university's executive real estate director, said the buildings sold for $5 million.

The buyer's identity was not disclosed.

The sale gets the university out of operating buildings that are getting "old and a little tired at this point," Wall says. Downtown Commons I was built in 1970 and Downtown Commons II in 1980.

The university has been pushing in recent years for more students to live on campus.

University President Taylor Randall has said he wants to see an additional 5,000 students living in residence halls by 2027. That would mean roughly 11,000 total students living on campus, which is about a third of the school's undergraduate population.

The university is continuing to build more housing. A 1,370-bed residence hall is under construction on the southeast part of campus. It also plans to build more housing at a 50-acre site that had been part of the U.S. military's Fort Douglas.