Purdue University

When Purdue University needed to quickly address a deficit in its housing portfolio, it looked to Corvias and Plenary, with an established track record in higher education, to deliver two residence halls for its freshmen and upperclassmen.

Project Scope

Facing a 1,000-bed deficit in its housing portfolio in the 2018/2019 academic year, Purdue University’s (Purdue) primary goals in soliciting a Public-Private Partnership (P3) for its expanded housing program were to establish student affordability and long-term cost predictability, deliver comparable building aesthetics, and establish a strategic, long-term partnership that maintains the flexibility to expand the scope in future years. Corvias, partnered with Plenary Group USA Concessions Ltd., assembled a local, industry-leading team to deliver on these goals, including Gilbane Building Co., MSKTD & Associates, Mackey Mitchell Architects, Schneider Corp., MKSK and Applied Engineering. This team delivered a design, build, finance, operate, and maintain (DBFOM) partnership that will add 1,355 new beds, between two residence halls, including 730 beds for the “Freshmen Experience” in Meredith Hall South and 570 beds for upperclassman in Frieda Parker Hall. The solution addresses Purdue’s goals by utilizing the team’s history in structuring availability payment models, history of delivering facilities on-time and on-budget, and by transferring risk from the university to the private partner. Construction began in late November 2018, and both halls were ready for student occupancy in time for the 2020-2021 academic year.

Financing Solution

The structure of this partnership includes a 65-year availability-payment-based concession agreement, where Purdue will receive the assets in like-new condition at the end of the partnership term. Financial close for this partnership was achieved in only four months.

Corvias Leads as the Project’s O&M Partner

By operating both new and existing housing for over 100,000 beds on 30 partnerships throughout the United States, Corvias is able to provide operational efficiencies, economies of scale and purchasing power, best practices, and a focus on reinvestment into the managed assets. The proven O&M program focuses on quality control and providing superior customer service from day one.

Corvias’ O&M philosophy is simple—treating facilities as valuable assets, throughout the assets’ entire life, that will directly contribute to the student experience and success. Based on Purdue’s objectives, Corvias will provide the full scope of services in a manner that meets or exceeds APPA Level 2 standard of service throughout the 65-year term.

The O&M team will be involved throughout the design, construction, and commissioning phases, and will work with the DB team to develop the full O&M plan, to prepare for a smooth transition into facilities management.

A Sustainable Approach

Purdue is working to create healthy, energy efficient, and beautifully designed buildings, ensuring that its interior gathering and living places, classrooms, as well as academic and research spaces, are as environmentally responsible as they are functional.

Sustainable, high-performance, LEED-certified construction is just one of the ways Purdue is addressing its green building goals. Securing LEED certifications for both residential housing buildings will be mandatory, and the Design-Build partners on the project, Gilbane Building Co., MSKTD & Associates, and Mackey Mitchell Architects are working toward just that.

Designing and engineering efficient and sustainable buildings has always been one of the goals of successful architects and engineers. MSKTD and Mackey Mitchell have designed a multitude of LEED-certified buildings over the years. As recently as 2016, MSKTD had designed the most number of LEED-certified buildings in the state of Indiana.