UVM Announces Plan to Build Housing for 540 Students

The University of Vermont campus Credit: File: James Buck

The University of Vermont on Monday announced plans to build housing for 540 undergrads near Centennial Woods.

“We’re delighted,” said Ron Lumbra, chair of UVM’s board of trustees, after it approved a resolution to move forward on the project. “We’re sensitive to the challenge in Burlington of housing and take seriously the opportunity for us to do our part to help.”

The complex, Catamount Woods, will be on the southern edge of Centennial Woods on property that UVM currently leases to the DoubleTree hotel for parking. The University plans to break ground in early 2024 and house its first students there in fall 2025. Details of the complex are not yet public, but it will have apartment-style living, a feature that should entice the juniors and seniors it’s being built for, according to Lumbra.

The university has partnered with AAM 15 Management to complete the approximately $100 million project.

A rendering of the project Credit: Courtesy of UVM

The residential complex is one feature of a concerted effort by the university to alleviate the local housing crunch. The board began pressing the administration for housing solutions about a year and a half ago. Since then, the school has committed more than $50 million to help catalyze projects, Lumbra said.

Construction has already begun on Catamount Run, which is set to house UVM graduate students and employees in South Burlington.

The school is also eager for the Burlington City Council to approve the rezoning of its Trinity Campus, where it proposed a multibuilding development to add 400 undergraduate beds, according to Richard Cate, UVM’s chief financial officer.