Gilbane Development has partnered with Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, on a $350 million plan to replace aging traditional dormitories with facilities that group students together based on similar majors, intellectual pursuits and other interests.
Champaign, Ill.-based Broeren Russo Builders has been named the contractor for “Elevate WKU,” a public-private partnership that seeks to reimagine the university’s residential portfolio to improve the student experience and increase student recruitment and retention. The project architect is Mackey Mitchell Architects.
The university’s Board of Regents and the Kentucky Capital Projects and Bond Oversight Committee, an entity of the state legislature, have approved the project, which the school says is the largest residential investment in its history.
Those approvals allow for financial close, which is expected to conclude in May, and set the stage for a total overhaul of the university’s campus housing portfolio, Gilbane said.
The first phase of Elevate WKU will include the acquisition of the university’s existing housing facilities from the Student Life Foundation, a nonprofit corporation created in 1999 to own, operate and renovate student housing, and the demolition of Douglas-Keen and Hugh-Poland halls, along with a nearby dining hall, to construct an approximately 1,000-bed building in the same dormitory and dining hall. Groundbreaking on the 300,000-square-foot project is scheduled for fall, with the new facility set to open in fall 2028.
In addition to new construction, Gilbane will oversee other changes to existing housing facilities. The Student Life Foundation will be separately responsible for demolishing Hilltopper Hall, which has been determined beyond repair. The foundation and an Alabama-based not-for-profit corporation, the Collegiate Housing Foundation, which will take title to these facilities once repaired, are repairing the regular and Regents rooms.
The new residence hall is expected to include collaborative study rooms with built-in community centers, social spaces designed to foster connection, a large campus lounge and dining room, and living-learning communities that bring together students who share similar majors, hobbies or interests.
“At its core, this housing initiative is about students: creating and sustaining modern lifelong learning environments that foster belonging, support and student success and will strengthen the Hilltopper experience from a student’s first day on campus and throughout their academic career,” Geoff Eisenacher, vice president of Gilbane Development, said in a statement.
Under the structure, Western Kentucky U. will enter into a ground lease with the Collegiate Housing Foundation, which will act as landlord and borrower. Inwood Management, a chartered facilities management company, will oversee the daily operations and physical maintenance of the residential portfolio.
According to Gilbane, the partnership is based on a long-term, 50-year ground lease model, which allows the university to access the expertise and capital of the private sector while maintaining strategic control over the student experience.
According to the school, students who participate in university Living Learning Communities are 8% more likely to graduate than those who do not. He reported that the total student enrollment was about 16,000 in the fall of 2025.
