Arizona State University President Michael Crow and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego joined university and city staff and members of Capstone Development Partners Monday in a groundbreaking ceremony on the new ASU Downtown Phoenix Residence Hall and Entrepreneurship Center on March 2, 2020. In addition to studio and apartment-style living space, the 16-story building will provide academic and entrepreneurial space on the first three floors. Construction began in January and is scheduled for completion in time for classes in Fall 2021.

“What people will experience in this building is the fusion of living, learning and creating all in one place,” said ASU President Michael M. Crow. “Not only will this residence hall answer our need for additional housing for our downtown Phoenix campus, it will provide space for co-working, events, exhibitions and involving not only our entire downtown campus community, but the broader community, as well. We want an environment of collaboration.”

With the growth of ASU’s downtown Phoenix campus, the demand for on-campus student housing has been at capacity, leading the university to lease off-campus apartments to accommodate its needs. The need for student housing will continue with the opening of Thunderbird School of Global Management in 2021 and the planned transfer of several programs in the areas of music, fashion and design from the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts to downtown Phoenix.

“Having Arizona State University and all of the activity it brings with it is a tremendous asset for the city of Phoenix,” said Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. “It has transformed our downtown in its physical presence, its energy, and its influence on lifestyle. We need more options for students to live and we encourage the university’s investment in providing space for ideas to be shared not only with faculty and students, but with residents and businesses in downtown and across the city.”

The Center will provide 532 beds in studio, two-bedroom, and four-bedroom apartment-style units for graduate and sophomore and above undergraduate students on floors four through 16. Lease rates will be comparable to Taylor Place, ASU’s existing downtown residence hall for freshmen and will include utilities and services.

The first three floors comprise approximately 75,000 square feet of the building’s approximately 284,000 gross square feet. These levels will be home to design studios, flexible classroom space, fashion studios, fabrication labs, music practice and ensemble rooms, recording studios and spaces for live events.

ASU’s Entrepreneurship + Innovation (E+I) unit will play a role in managing the activity at the Center. E+I connects entrepreneurs to information, resources and people that can help propel innovative ideas into reality and serves as a collaborating and connecting resource for entrepreneurs at all stages within the ASU community and beyond.

“The Center will be closely connected to additional ASU locations to facilitate teleworking for teams spread across ASU at 1951@SkySong, the ASU Chandler Innovation Center, and future locations in Mesa and Los Angeles, both already under construction,” said Ji Mi Choi, ASU Associate Vice President, who leads ASU E+I. “With videoconferencing and other shared work functions, entrepreneurial teams will be able to advance their ideas no matter which location any person is in.”

Capstone Development Partners, a national student housing real estate developer specializing in on-campus public-private partnerships, is ASU’s development partner in the project. ASU has ground leased for 45 years to Downtown Phoenix Student Housing II, LLC for construction and operation of the project. DPSH II has contracted with Capstone On-Campus Management for management and is responsible for all costs to operate and maintain the residential space. Capstone, along with its architect Studio Ma and builder DPR Construction have collaborated with ASU project stakeholders on planning, programming and design of the building, located at the southwest corner of 1st Avenue and Fillmore Street. Total development cost is estimated at $118 million.

About ASU
Arizona State University has developed a new model for the American Research University, creating an institution that is committed to access, excellence and impact. ASU measures itself by those it includes, not by those it excludes. As the prototype for a New American University, ASU pursues research that contributes to the public good, and ASU assumes major responsibility for the economic, social and cultural vitality of the communities that surround it.