University Housing Expands Campus Living Options with University Towers Acquisition, Renovation

For multiple decades, University Towers, a large, previously-privately owned residence hall nestled along Hillsborough Street has been a key part of NC State students’ college experience. 

The university has ensured it will do so on a deeper level for decades to come, as the facility will officially join the University Housing family this fall. Earlier this summer, University Housing purchased University Towers (UT) and the adjacent parking deck for $29.6 million. 

With a growing need for additional bed space to accommodate the university’s requirement for first-year students to live on campus, University Housing had already been master leasing rooms in University Towers over the past few years.

“It made sense to expand University Housing’s inventory by adding University Towers. This allows us to achieve the goals of providing space for the growing first year class and provide more on-campus housing for other populations,” said Donna McGalliard, the associate vice chancellor and executive director of University Housing in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. 

Pete Fraccaroli, University Housing’s director of facilities and business operations, explained that it normally takes several years to design and build a new residence hall to increase University Housing’s inventory. 

With UT already built and conveniently located on the edge of campus, that timeline is exponentially shortened. 

“This is a property that’s adjacent to our campus that we were master leasing and it made a lot of sense to be able to increase our bed count quickly through an acquisition and start meeting the unmet demand for our students to live on campus,” he said.

Throughout this summer, University Housing has partnered with the University Facilities division  and Blum Construction to begin work renovating the space to bring it up to University Housing’s standards. 

These renovations included improving the HVAC system, life safety upgrades, a new fire alarm system and bringing university quality internet service into the building. One of the most important upgrades involved transforming the building’s back entrance, previously only accessible by a short staircase, into an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessible path to connect UT to campus. 

“It’s super important to us,” said Abinadi Ehrisman, an assistant director of facilities. “We put a lot of effort into making sure that everybody who wants to live in University Housing and wants to be in different programs, different villages and so forth has access to do that in all of our buildings.”

University Towers will be chock full of amenities for incoming students. What was previously a swimming pool will be transformed into an outdoor space for students to gather and relax. 

The building will also feature a laundry facility, study lounges, computer rooms, a gaming room and a fitness room. In addition, unlike other residence halls, UT features a dining facility on the top floor.

“One of the things that’s attractive about this building is that it already has features that we have in our other buildings,” McGalliard said. “All of those things that we know are important to student success already exist in this building.”

McGalliard explained that UT will only be available to first-year students, calling it an intentional decision to help these students start building community at NC State. 

All of those things that we know are important to student success already exist in this building.

“Our students who live in suites or traditional style buildings tend to build community faster and easier, because there’s shared bathroom space, there’s shared common area space,” McGalliard said. “University Towers is in close proximity to one of our existing residential communities  with similar style housing.”

In addition to providing that community and increased space for first-year students, by expanding Housing’s inventory, the acquisition of UT will allow more students to continue to have University Housing as part of their college experience. 

“I think what makes this acquisition important is that we have a first-year live-on requirement,” Fraccaroli said. “So regardless of the size of the freshman class, we will have space to house them on campus. The addition of University Towers  allows more upperclassmen to live in on-campus housing beyond their first year..” 

Phase one of University Towers renovations will be completed and ready for student move-in August 2024.  Phase two of the project will occur in summer 2025.