American Campus Communities (ACC), which develops, owns and manages student housing communities all over the USA, declared that it has commenced the construction of a 1008-bed residence hall community on the Northern Illinois University campus (NIU) located in DeKalb Illinois.
The third-party housing community development project was awarded utilizing a competitive procurement procedure and is expected to get completed for tenancy in August 2012.
The proposed undergraduate residence hall of NIU is designed to provide living and learning type of community and the living units are set up in clusters to improve social interaction between the students. The facility will have around 500 beds, which will be placed in five floors of two residential constructions each symbolizing a neighborhood. Every floor of the building will have eight residential units comprising two dissimilar configurations and four similar Community Advisor (CA) units. The residential units will have a community place, which includes study areas, six shared bathrooms and twelve private bathrooms, a kitchenette and washer and dryer and a shared living area.
The 32,839-square-foot community center will also include a gaming area, a social lounge, a meeting facility and a fitness center, which incorporates modern exercise equipment. The community center also will feature a 500-seat dining hall, which includes a kitchen facility, a food court and serving areas. The administrative areas will have reception and student waiting area, a number of offices, a bigger sized conference room and a meeting space. The outdoor facilities planned for the building will include playing areas, picnic tables, benches, patios, green spaces and bicycle parking spaces.
Funding for the construction was offered using a fixed-rate bond issue by the Collegiate Housing Foundation, a not for profit outfit based in Alabama, that possesses the project through a 40 year ground lease agreement with NIU. ACC has formulated the project and was involved in reaching the $132 million funding deal. American Campus Communities will also function as construction manager for the project.
Source: http://www.americancampus.com/