LOUISVILLE, Ky. 鈥 鈥淚t’s nothing like the student housing I lived in when I was in college,鈥 University of Louisville President James Ramsey said today at the ribbon-cutting opening of The Province, a student housing complex near the Belknap Campus. The first phase of The Province features 366 units, a community swimming pool, sand volleyball court and central clubhouse with a theater.
The new development is the result of a public-private partnership between UofL and the Edwards Cos. An affiliate of Edwards Cos. called Edwards Communities will own, manage and maintain the property, which is affiliated with the UofL campus. The 43-acre site is in the Park Hill neighborhood just north of UofL鈥檚 main campus. The land was an abandoned industrial site once occupied by American Standard, a manufacturer of bathroom and kitchen fixtures.
The Province is considered UofL鈥檚 first 鈥渃ollege town鈥 community with a goal of building more student housing in a neighborhood-type setting. Ramsey called the opening of The Province 鈥渁nother step in our continuing effort to improve the quality of our on-campus student life. Inviting residential communities like this should also help us meet our goals of retaining and graduating more students.鈥
The Edwards Cos. have built similar luxury housing complexes at other colleges and universities across the country. President Pete Edwards said students will like The Province because it鈥檚 close to campus as well as downtown Louisville. He said 94 percent of the units have been rented
The Province will house up to 858 people in one- to four-bedroom apartments. That brings the total number of beds on campus or in affiliated housing to 3,780 and the percentage of students living on campus or in affiliated housing to 24 percent, up from 9 percent in 1998.
For more information, call Tom Jackson, vice president for student affairs, at 502-852-6933.