The University of Vermont plans to build a housing complex with space for 540 undergraduates on the eastern side of its Burlington campus, university officials announced Monday.
The complex, named Catamount Woods, will be constructed on what is currently a parking lot used by the DoubleTree hotel at the southern edge of Centennial Woods. The university owns that land and leases it to the hotel, officials said.
“Building new housing is a top priority for the university,” UVM President Suresh Garimella said in a press release. “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.”
On Monday, the university signed an agreement with AAM 15 Management LLC to build the roughly $100 million complex. The company’s website describes it as an “independent private equity investment and management company” specializing in hotels and residential and commercial real estate.
The UVM board of trustees’ executive committee approved a resolution on Monday afternoon to pay up to $26 million for a contract with AAM 15 Management for the complex. Officials said that, “barring any delays,” they plan to immediately start the permitting process with the goal of breaking ground in early 2024 and housing the first undergraduates by the fall of 2025.
Undergraduate housing has been a sore point in the relationship between UVM and the city of Burlington for years.
City officials have expressed concerns that the school’s undergraduates are occupying too much of the city’s short supply of housing stock. The Burlington City Council has thus far declined to allow UVM to develop housing on its Trinity Campus, saying it wants a commitment from the university not to grow its undergraduate enrollment.
UVM officials have said they do not intend to increase the size of their undergraduate student body — but have refused to sign an agreement codifying that intention.
A spokesperson for Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger did not immediately answer questions emailed Monday afternoon.
As of the spring of 2023, UVM reported 10,688 undergraduate students, according to data posted on its website. It’s not clear how many lived on-campus or off-campus.
University officials said at Monday’s executive committee meeting that they expect a slight decrease in the size of the incoming class this fall compared to last year, but that exact figures will not be available until September.
The Catamount Woods 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,” the university said in its Monday press release.
