TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A landmark near the University of Arizona is gone now. Old apartments near Speedway and Campbell are making way for a big new dorm meant to help new students get a good start on their time in college.
A lot of students may remember the old Palm Shadows apartments. Well they have gone down. But something to replace them is going up: 19 floors of dormitories primarily for U of A Freshmen.
For more than 60 year some prime property on the Northwest corner of Speedway and Campbell has held the Palm Shadows apartments.
Recently the land held big ambitions of property owners. They looked at the corner so close to U of A and envisioned tall towers mixing places to live and places to eat and shop.
But those private plans fell through. Now U of A is building a dorm there big enough to hold about 12 hundred students in modern apartment style accommodations that include places for students to eat, work out and get various university services.
U of A Spokesperson Mitch Zak says the university feels students will do best if they live their freshman year in a university dorm.
“We have the opportunity to get them into a facility where the university can provide programming resources, safety, so everything from mental health resources to the dining commons to programming, so again providing that support that a first year student will need, so that they can make that transition from high school to college, and hopefully then continue to thrive.”
Nearby businesses could thrive from 12 hundred new students just walking distance from their doors.
At G’s barbershop Enrique Lozada is looking forward to a higher headcount of people who want a haircut and he’s happy the new dorm will not be like most new highrises which bring in competition when they put retail businesses on their ground floors.
“It's hard enough as it is to try to be successful and make businesses last. And then when you bring in something that's ideal to what you're doing and put them right across the street, it's kind of dog eat dog.”
U of A’s not ready to say what it might cost to live in the new dorm but it should be ready for move-in in Fall 2028, a little over two years from now.
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Craig Smith is a reporter for KGUN 9. With more than 40 years of reporting in cities like Tampa, Houston and Austin, Craig has covered more than 40 Space Shuttle launches and covered historic hurricanes like Katrina, Ivan, Andrew and Hugo. Share your story ideas and important issues with Craig by emailing craig.smith@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook and Twitter.
