The University of Arizona has broken ground on a new $247 million on-campus residence hall in Tucson, advancing its requirement that most first-year students live in university housing. The project, known as the Catalina, is planned as a nine-story facility that will accommodate more than 1,300 students when complete. The university expects to welcome its first residents in the fall 2028 semester, adding a sizable block of new student housing capacity to its campus.
University of Arizona President Suresh Garimella linked the project to student success outcomes, noting that students who live on campus for at least one year have a 50% higher four-year graduation rate than those who never live in campus housing. The new dorm is intended to support that policy framework by giving the university additional beds to keep more first-year students in a campus environment.
Mortenson, through its Mortenson Development, Inc. (MDI) platform, is the project developer, bringing its national build-to-suit capabilities and experience with complex assignments to the university initiative. The design is being led by architecture firm Gensler, which is responsible for the layout and overall look of the nine-story building and its amenity areas.
The Catalina is planned with a mix of residential and lifestyle features intended to serve a large first-year student population. In addition to student rooms, the building program includes a dining hall that will add food-service capacity to the campus. Plans also call for a rooftop pool, alongside other interior and exterior amenities that have not yet been detailed publicly.
On the financing side, Mortenson facilitated a tax-exempt financing structure for the project in partnership with the Collegiate Housing Foundation. The structure is designed to support development of the residence hall using tax-exempt capital, aligning with the broader institutional mission of providing long-term student housing solutions. Specific terms of the financing, including maturity and pricing, were not disclosed in the announcement.
MDI positions its work on projects like the Catalina as part of a national build-to-suit platform that coordinates closely with public and private stakeholders. For the University of Arizona, that means pairing the developer’s real estate expertise with the institution’s academic and housing priorities to deliver a residence hall that is intended to serve students’ needs for years to come.
