by Shane Henson — November 11, 2013—American Campus Communities, a developer, owner and manager of high-quality student housing communities, recently announced that it broke ground on the mixed-use development project that the company was chosen to build for Pennsylvania’s Drexel University.
According to American Campus Communities, the 24-story development, located at Lancaster Avenue and 34th Street, will feature student housing, retail space and a dining center.
Specifically, the 580,000-square-foot facility will feature apartments and suites for more than 1,300 students, with 20,000 square feet of retail divided into 11 locations at the street level, as well as a student and community dining center. American Campus will manage and operate the facility under a ground lease agreement with Drexel, and at the end of the lease term the ownership will revert back to Drexel.
The firm Solomon Cordwell Buenz Architects designed the new building, which will be built by the Hunter Roberts Construction Group. Completion is scheduled for fall 2015. An animation video of the new development is available on Vimeo.
The development is the latest in a series of collaborations between American Campus and Drexel. Chestnut Square, a mixed-use project that transformed Chestnut Street between 32nd and 33rd Streets, recently opened its doors to students. Its retail is fully occupied, with four of its eight retailers open for business and the others slated to open throughout the next few months, says American Campus.
The company also recently donated to Drexel the land, sub-surface and air rights to a residential building known as University Crossings , located adjacent to the university’s campus. American Campus will continue to manage the $68 million property under a ground lease agreement with Drexel. The company is also moving forward with a $22 million renovation of the building.
