Arizona State University has begun construction of the $118 million Downtown Residence Hall and Entrepreneurship Center, its largest development in downtown Phoenix to date.
The Arizona Republic reports that the 284,000-square-foot building will have 16 floors—13 of which will be dedicated to student housing, It will provide living space for about 530 students.
The university is adding housing in an effort to serve the burgeoning student population in downtown Phoenix. According to the most recent data available, 11,584 students were attending the downtown campus in 2018, but the area has only one residence hall.
Capstone Development Partners, a development company specializing in student housing, will oversee construction. The architect is Studio Ma.
Arizona State also partners with several apartment complexes to provide additional housing for students downtown
"It's great that ASU is building a new residence hall," ASU sophomore Emmanuel Morales said. "Downtown (campus) has very limited housing, and I know many students who could not live here because the housing rooms were completely occupied."
In years prior, Arizona State has been forced to offer temporary student housing at the downtown Phoenix Sheraton Hotel while waiting for space to to become available at overfilled residence halls.
Rick Naimark, the university's vice president of Program Development Planning, said the new residence hall was also part of the university's interest in "expanding some academic programs to downtown."
The new residence hall will have spaces designed for entrepreneurship and innovation, Naimark says.
The additional student housing rooms also will mean more opportunities to bring other programs downtown.
Some programs from the university’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts will be relocated to the downtown campus upon completion of the residence hall, which is expected for the Fall 2021 semester.
