Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a developer and operator of infrastructure projects for the college and university market, has closed on public-private partnership financing to develop an on-campus housing and dining community at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, according to an announcement Thursday.

The partnership involved the issuance of $147.6 million in bonds, UNCW officials said. 

The two-phase project will house about 1,814 students and provide a variety of amenities, including group study and collaboration spaces, a news release stated.

Located in the southeast area of the UNCW campus, the development’s first phase is scheduled to open for the fall 2020 semester with 1,038 beds in a pod-style configuration for first-year students, according to the release.

In the second phase, the news release stated, 776 beds in both pod and semi-suite styles will be added for the fall 2021 semester for second-year students and upperclassmen. The development will also include more than 3,500 square feet of dining space, according to the release, as well as makerspace, group study and collaboration areas and a learning center for the sophomore class, which will be constructed in both phases of the project.

“We’re very pleased to work with UNCW to deliver much-anticipated infrastructure that will enable more students to live on campus at the very heart of this growing institution,” said Bob Shepko, president of Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, in the release. “Our team has worked closely with university leadership on a very thoughtful planning and design effort, and we look forward to breaking ground on this exciting new offering for UNCW students.”

According to the release, the development is being designed by Clark Nexsen Architecture and Engineering and constructed by Balfour Beatty Construction.

Clark Nexsen Architecture's portfolio also includes Cape Fear Community College's Advanced and Emerging Technologies Building and Heavy Equipment and Transport Technology Building at its North Campus in Castle Hayne.

"Collegiate Housing Foundation, a national non-profit entity, is the project’s residential facility owner through an issuance of project-based, tax-exempt debt financing," the release stated. "Upon completion, the housing community will be managed by the University."