Renovation of an educational facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Working plans call for the renovation of a educational facility.

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2024/03/01/university-cincinnati-crosley-tower-demo-gbbn-hdr.html It expects to spend at least another $225 million building out a slew of new student dorms just off campus. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2023/07/21/uc-housing-solutions.html July 21, 2023 Just over a year ago, University of Cincinnati sophomore Sujal Choukse, an international student from India, spent the summer heading into freshman year imagining what college life would be like - picturing the days hanging out on Sheakley field playing soccer, taking notes in his computer engineering classes and bonding with new friends he'd make in his dormitory. Choukse booked his dorm room in the middle of the summer and waited. This would be the first time that he, or anyone else from his family, had even visited the United States, let alone lived there. Things didn't pan out like he expected. Because of a shortage of space in campus housing, Choukse was one of more than 200 students who had to spend their first semester in a hotel or apartment building near campus. "The most inconvenient part of dealing with the hotel situation was the lack of amenities typically available in a dorm, such as a communal kitchen or study area, which made it difficult to adjust and maintain a comfortable living environment," Choukse said. "Another frustrating aspect of it was the unexpected last-minute change from dormitory to a hotel, with the university notifying me just days before the move-in date and extending the move-in date without any prior notice." He was far from alone. More than 7,500 students applied for campus housing that fall, setting a school record and quickly filling the university's 12 dormitories. Because of the overflow, UC couldn't make any promises to students about where exactly they'd live in the fall, but the university did know one thing for certain - not everyone who wanted a room on campus would get one. Choukse spent his entire first semester of college living in a hotel room, but once the spring semester rolled around, he transferred into the newly renovated Calhoun Hall that opened up between 800 and 900 beds. The need for these extra beds was indicative of a growing housing problem at UC, especially as the university continues adding to its headcount. Almost a year later, the topic of housing is back on the minds of incoming students, especially as this academic year will see the largest enrollment in UC history - beating last year's total of nearly 48,000 students between the three campuses - Uptown, Clermont and Blue Ash. UC Vice Provost for Enrollment Management Jack Miner said the university is anticipating 50,000 students enrolled for fall 2023. This number will likely increase in the future, along with the number of applicants for campus housing, continually pressuring UC to find space for everyone. "There's never a scenario where (UC) is going to house all of the students that want to live in this area," Miner said. "It absolutely needs to be an opportunity where private developers are also developing the land around campus in addition to UC building new traditional dorms. And we're starting to see a lot of that if you just look around the campus area. You start to see a lot of new development." On-campus residents make up their fair share of the growing UC student demographic today, around 22% according to U.S. News and World Report. There is also a large demographic of students who live within walking distance of campus, who are technically classified as commuter students. Right now, the university only has room for around 8,000 students on campus. But as UC's number of dormitory spaces and dining halls expands, along with its entry into the Big 12 Conference this year, more and more students want to live on campus. But UC doesn't seem to be panicking. On the contrary, it's looking toward even higher enrollment for the rest of the decade. The university proposed a giant enrollment goal last year - that UC would reach a total student population of 60,000 by the year 2030 across all three campuses. This is all part of a trend that's also seen record numbers of students register for campus housing in the last 10 years. If UC were to reach 60,000 students and sustain a 22% rate of campus residency, it would need to provide around 13,200 beds. Of course, these population increases can't happen without on-campus students having somewhere to live, which will inevitably be more taxing as additional students enroll. This has been a recent problem for the university, as providing university housing has historically been a reasonably simple task for UC to deal with. Throughout its first century as a public university, most students commuted from the surrounding areas instead of directly living on campus in residence halls, Miner said. For a majority of UC's existence, it wouldn't have been a misnomer to call it a commuter school. Siddall Hallexpand Construction crews are renovating Siddall Hall on UC's campus. LUKE BISESI | CINCINNATI BUSINESS COURIER Residential developers around Clifton Heights, University Heights and Fairview are seeing UC's projected growth as an opportunity for the future. If all the projects that have been started or announced go forward, developers and UC will add enough beds around campus to provide a space for its swelling student body. In the next four years, eight student housing projects will be completed that will add more than 4,600 beds for students on and off campus. With a mix between UC-affiliated and independent developments, more than $700 million will be spent building these projects that will ease the university's housing crunch. "UC has certainly converted from a commuter school over the past few years, but there's still a fair amount of people who don't live on campus, and kind of in the immediately adjacent part of campus," said Patrice Burke, Uptown Rental Properties vice president of development. "We consider this an amazing opportunity for the entire region and are confident that stakeholders are ready to ensure that the infrastructure will keep up with UC's vision." Three of these projects are under construction and slated to finish sometime in 2024: Hub Cincinnati, Siddall Hall's renovation and Hallmar. These projects represent $246 million in investment and will add more than 1,000 beds. Two more are expected to finish in 2025: Uptown Rental Properties' Union on Taft and Block 1, a 750-bed development east of U Square @ the Loop. One of the largest projects would be the $125 million redevelopment of Bellevue Gardens, adding nearly 450 beds when completed in 2027. "It's one thing to say you'll have 60,000 students by a certain point in time. I think that (poses some questions)," said Matt Bourgeois, director of Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corp. (CHCURC). "How are you housing these additional people How are you educating them How are you parking the I think this growth is ambitious, but in a good way for our neighborhood." CHCURC oversees the CUF neighborhood which surrounds the western and southern portions of UC's Uptown campus, alongside Corryville. Bourgeois said the surrounding communities are going to be impacted no matter what as the quantity of students and on-campus residents grows. Those impacts are hard to tell at the moment. One possibility, he said, is the housing market around UC might make a shift toward these large housing complexes as opposed to students renting single-family residences with roommates. UC also is involved in a $36.3 million block-leasing agreement in the fall and will include an additional 728 undergraduate beds and 114 graduate beds between some other residential complexes - CP Cincy, the Jefferson House, University Edge, Yugo Cincinnati Deacon and Senator Place. Block leasing involves reserving a block of units in off-campus housing. The university usually leases most, if not all, those beds for students. In the most recent agreement in February, each of the developments are under contract for between one and three years and some have the option to extend for another semester or two. While the new developments are under construction, the temporary fix for UC's problem lies with these blocklease deals, which can hold at least 842 students in UC-managed complexes. This will be imperative for the university to accommodate another record freshman class. Once these eight projects wrap up, UC will have thousands of additional beds for a student population that shows no sign of slowing growth. Another comforting factor for UC is the continued prevalence of commuter and online students. "It's that breadth of opportunities that we have that really makes 60,000 manageable for us," Miner said. "Because it's not all 18-year-olds. It's not 60,000 students looking for student housing or using the recreation center. It's also adult learners and online students." Though the road ahead will be full of construction, development and community changes, this goal of 60,000 isn't out of the question for metropolitan Ohio colleges as far as sustaining this many students. For instance, Ohio State University in Columbus had a student population of 67,772 students in the 2023-24 school year. "This goal isn't just possible, it's imperative," Miner said. "And it's not just imperative for UC, it's imperative for Cincinnati. It's important for us to expand because (the more we do that) there's opportunity we're creating for people from Cincinnati to get a degree." This upcoming semester, Choukse is living off-campus in his own place and with a group of roommates. "It feels great to have a space that I can truly call my own, with more privacy, freedom and the ability to create a personalized living environment that better suits my needs and preferences compared to a hotel," Choukse said. __________________________________________ Shortlist Confirmed Submit the requested number of Statements of Qualifications (Form F110-330) directly to Michael Myres at Michael.Myres@uc.edu. See Section G of this RFQ for additional submittal instructions. Submit all questions regarding this RFQ in writing to Michael Myres at Michael.Myres@uc.edu with the project number included in the subject line (no phone calls please). Questions will be answered and posted to Opportunities page on the OFCC website . Blocks 1 and 2 are parcels of land directly adjacent to the University of Cincinnati at the southeast entry to Uptown Cincinnati and to campus in the Clifton Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati. Block 1 is bound by Vine Street, Calhoun Street, McMillan Street and Scioto Lane and is cleared for redevelopment. The eastern portion of Block 2 is also cleared and is re-developable bound by Calhoun Street, Scioto Lane, McMillan Street and Ohio Avenue. The Clifton Heights Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation (CHCURC) owns the land, and the University currently has an option agreement in place with CHCURC to partner on development concepts. CHCURC whose members include the CUF (Clifton Heights, University Heights, Fairview) Neighborhood Association, the University, and the Clifton Heights Business Association was established to enhance the neighborhoods and southern and western edges of the uptown West Campus. CHCURC and the University have partnered in the past to develop University Park Apartments as well as University Square. Professional design services have been acquired by the Contracting Authority under a separate contract. Ratio, in collaboration with William Rawn Associates, will lead the Architect/Engineer ("A/E") design team. The Program of Requirements ("POR") will be developed as a part of this project by the A/E. For purposes of responding to this RFQ, the program is summarized as follows: o Block 1: o 300-space partial to fully below-grade parking garage (podium) o 625-bed traditional and/or junior suite style university housing (overbuild) o 20,000 square feet street-level University amenity shell space (overbuild) o Block 2: o 125-bed graduate/apartment style university housing o 10,000 square feet street-level University amenity shell space All aspects of the project and related issues will be implemented and operated consistent with the Contracting Authority and/or Owner's policies and procedures. The selected Construction Manager at Risk ("CM"), as a portion of its required Scope of Services and prior to submitting its proposal, will discuss and clarify with the Contracting Authority and/or Owner, the breakdown of the Agreement detailed cost components, to address the Owner's project requirements and refine the project schedule. Participate in the Encouraging Diversity, Growth & Equity (EDGE) Program as required by statute and the Agreement. As required by the Agreement, and as properly authorized, provide the following categories of services: provide constructability review comments on documents produced by the A/E during the Schematic Design, Design Development, and Construction Document stages; develop and maintain estimates of probable construction cost, value engineering, project schedules, and construction schedules; lead and manage the Subcontractor Prequalification and Bidding process, Construction and Closeout Stage. Construction Stage Notice to Proceed 09 / 23 Percent of the CM's total compensation excluding CM's Contingency* 10.0% The Contracting Authority reserves the right to reject all proposals and cancel at any time for any reason this solicitation, any portion of this solicitation or any phase of the Project. The Contracting Authority shall have no liability to any proposer arising out of such cancellation or rejection. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to waive minor variations in the selection process .