Officials say the university Is experiencing an increase in traditional enrollment, from 2,000 students to a targeted 3,000 students this fall. With that growth has come a need for more student housing and greater amenities. The university has invested heavily in admissions staff and has been “strategic and intentional about who and how we recruit,” university president Jack Thomas said.
“We’re excited about the future of Central State University. We have a dynamic board, dynamic leadership, outstanding faculty and staff, and brilliant students,” Thomas said. “The next few years are really going to be major for Central State.”
Many of the expansions are intended to provide students with health and wellness resources and housing within the campus community, making Wilberforce a true “college town.”
“We have a major driving impact on our community, particularly in Wilberforce,” Thomas said. “We are the largest employer in the area. The university is really going to take off.”
Central State has already begun construction on a $15 million Honors Hall and Administrative Complex with 65 apartment-style units, meeting spaces, a tutoring area, and administrative offices. This is the third of four planned Honors Hall buildings, the last of which will cost $8.8 million and be completed in the fall of 2024.
Central State also will construct a new Residential Hall East for $10.1 million. It will house 146 students and will include a second dining hall. CSU will renovate the historic power plant on its site into a $5.5 million Health and Human Services Complex, and build a 19,000-square-foot campus logistics center, also for $5.5 million.
The university is also investing in off-campus suite housing on Shorter Avenue, tearing down an abandoned building on the property and building two apartment-style buildings with 40 units. Investing in off-campus housing, which will cost $9.5 million and is scheduled to be completed in late fall of 2022, also allows the university to serve more nontraditional students.
Officials are focusing heavily on student housing because there are already more students who want to live on campus than can fit.
“An expansion this large affects the total community,” said Curtis Pettis, vice president for administration and finance and university CFO. “Something of this magnitude has lasting effects.”
The university’s proposed Recreation and Wellness Center involves the renovation and expansion of an existing 14,000-square-foot facility into a wellness center, and constructing a new 42,400-square-foot recreation center, for $10.7 million.
The wellness center will have a fitness area and climbing wall, and will house exercise and wellness research. The recreation center will feature an indoor track, basketball court, and tennis court, with the buildings connected through a walkway.
The developer is University Housing Solutions, with whom the university has contracted in the past to build their other residence halls. Officials said the project will not mean tuition increases for either in-state or out-of-state students, and will be funded through university partners and increased enrollment. Construction will begin on the recreation center and logistics summer by midsummer this year.
“When you grow during a pandemic, it says something. We’re not going to let the pandemic stop us from thinking big,” Thomas said.
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