A 12-story student housing building headed for Metropolitan State University of Denver across from Ball Arena will offer students a more genuine college experience at what has always been a commuter campus, according to administrators.

Marking its 60th anniversary next year, MSU Denver’s student body is overwhelmingly local. According to the school, some 96% of its 17,000 students are Colorado residents and 58% are a first generation in their families to attend college.

Summit House would rank as the first student residence built and owned by the school. It would become an added success factor for many students who have wanted to live on campus, MSU’s Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Taylor Tacket told The Denver Gazette.

“Students who live on campus do better,” Tacket said. “They’ll get more direct resources, get resumes reviewed, and would be more likely to get placed in a meaningful job.”

Plans for the 200,000-square-foot building — sized to house 550 students — are part of the Ballfield at Auraria mixed-use development by developer Columbia Ventures, operating in conjunction with the Auraria Campus.

Currently, MSU has 250-to-300 students residing in housing elsewhere in the Auraria Campus.

Workforce housing building

The $117 million project expected to open in 2027 would precede a second building devoted to affordable housing, with 300 units. Those would be made available at below-market rates to Auraria workforce staff and others in the university community.

The 2-acre site for the buildings at 12th Street and Auraria Parkway had been MSU Denver’s — formerly Metro State’s — baseball field.

According to the school, actual dormitory space in the mixed-use structure will be on 10 upper floors, while a main level would provide dining options including restaurant space that could attract fans from Ball Arena.

Meanwhile, the project would provide special facilities to enhance the on-campus experience, Tacket said. Those would include a Classroom-to-Career “C2 Hub” on the second floor, as a direct career asset, connecting students to innovative faculty and industry partnerships.

The combined project has been designed for a school uniquely equipped to be an asset to Colorado’s economy, said Tim Carroll, spokesperson.

Open admissions strategy

“We’re an open success institution,” Carrol said.

He noted that the school’s open admissions strategy often reaches for students who are returning to education, some with high school GED diplomas, looking to sharpen specific career skills. The average age of MSU Denver students is 24, and some 87% are working full or part time, according to a 2022 study.

Among its 104 undergraduate majors are programs that specifically partner with trades, for a more direct route into careers.

Just east of the project site, the campus hosts SpringHill Suites Denver Downtown — a hotel that provides work-study opportunities for students in MSU’s School of Hospitality.

Carroll notes that the school has also long partnered an apprenticeship program with Lockheed Martin, for MSU’s Aerospace and Engineering Sciences programs.

Summit House would become the Auraria Campus’ tallest building, he said, well exceeding its historic, 6-story Tivoli Brewing Company structure, and rivaling or exceeding the brewery’s smokestack — two features that have been landmarks as the Auraria Campus evolved.

Both Carroll and Tacket see the campus’ downtown setting as an asset for career-oriented students.

“We have always thought about Denver being the classroom,” Tacket added.

Denver as a classroom

The student housing building and its career annex are part of an overall $135 million infrastructure project, including an expansion of sports, recreation and event spaces at the Auraria Event Center. MSU Denver administrators note that they have received more than $9 million in donations and other funding for the Hub, to join an expected $6 million in State of Colorado funding.

MSU Denver plans to fund the remainder of the student housing portion through debt, to be repaid through dorm fees.

Administrators add that the project is not expected to impact tuition rates or the school’s operating budget. Debt-per-student at MSU Denver, they add, ranks as the second-lowest in Colorado among public institutions of higher education.

Construction on the project, being designed by Shears Adkins Rockmore Architects, is scheduled to start this summer.