Balfour Beatty to Develop Student Housing Project in Texas

The University of Houston-Victoria has tapped Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a developer and operator of infrastructure projects for higher education, to develop and finance an on-campus housing project for the university.

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Victoria, Texas—The University of Houston-Victoria (UHV) has tapped Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a developer and operator of infrastructure projects for higher education, to develop and finance an on-campus housing project for the university. The development deal is structured as a public-private partnership between the school and the company.

The 380-bed student housing facility will be designed by KSQ Architects, and will include two- and four-bedroom suites designed to incorporate living/learning communities within the residence hall. Ameniries will include fitness equipment, building-wide Wi-Fi, a TV and gaming lounge and kitchens/lounges on each floor.

The property will serve the sophomore and upper-division student population at the University of Houston System’s Victoria campus. UHV provides classes at its Victoria campus as well as teaching sites in Fort Bend and Harris counties, and online classes, and currently has an enrollment of about 4,300. Victoria is the county seat of Victoria County, located southwest of Houston and southeast of San Antonio.

The University of Houston System Board of Regents approved the project at their February meeting, and the development is expected to get under way in June for scheduled delivery in August 2016. The GC on the project will be Dallas-based Balfour Beatty Construction, a sister division of Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions. Upon completion, the housing will be operated by the university.

Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions’ public-private partnership model offers higher education institutions a method of financing and executing their capital plans, including academic facilities for faculty, classrooms and labs, athletic spaces, wellness centers and (as in the case of UHV) student housing. The company is part of Balfour Beatty Investments, an infrastructure specialist that’s a division of the UK-based Balfour Beatty plc.

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