Lexington, Ky. — The University of Kentucky Board of Trustees has approved the next phase of the university’s on-campus housing revitalization that will bring the total number of beds delivered or currently under development to 6,504.
Scheduled for completion in 2017, University Flats will be composed of a seven-story building at University and Complex drives on the University of Kentucky’s Lexington, Kentucky, campus. Designed to provide separate living communities for upper-level undergraduate students, and graduate and professional students, it will provide 771 beds in 312 apartments in various styles and sizes, from studios to four bedrooms. Each apartment will include furnishings and a full kitchen.
EdR will finance the previously announced $74 million development through its On-Campus Equity Plan — The ONE PlanSM — which uses the company’s equity and financial stability to fund projects on university land. This program gives the university access to a single partner, and helps create long-term financial benefits for EdR and UK.
EdR will provide financing, oversee development and construction, and will be responsible for maintenance and management, while UK provides residence life services.
The largest on-campus housing development in American public higher education to date, the University of Kentucky’s revitalization began in late 2011 when the UK Board of Trustees saw an opportunity for investment in student success by enhancing the undergraduate experience with new living-learning communities.
By spring 2012, UK and EdR formalized a partnership and broke ground on the first phase — a 601-bed community dedicated to UK’s Honors program and students — that opened 16 months later in August 2013.
Since then, EdR and UK have opened new communities each year: In 2014, five buildings with 2,381 beds opened; three buildings with 1,610 beds are on schedule to open this summer. On schedule to open in 2016 are two buildings with 1,140 beds.