Regents Approve UM-Flint Student Housing
October 2006
The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan has approved a housing-facility project for the Flint campus. The decision was made at the Regents' October 20 meeting, held on the UM-Flint campus.
"During the wonderful celebration of UM-Flint's 50th anniversary, there was a great sense of recommitment to the campus' original mission: fulfilling the unique and ever-changing higher educational needs of the community with foresight, intelligence and bold action," said U-M President Mary Sue Coleman. "I can think of no better reaffirmation of that mission for the next 50 years than this exciting campus housing project."
"I am so very excited about the opportunity the new residency hall provides for the University of Michigan-Flint. It will enable us to expand not only the number of students, but the diversity of the campus," said Regent Libby Maynard. "This will have a major impact on downtown Flint and will act as a catalyst to increasing the development near the Flint campus."
The estimated cost of the project is $21,300,000. Funding will come from UM-Flint resources and from a $1.75 million grant from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. The 300 bed residential hall will be located in Parking Lot G, comprising 5.25 acres on the southern edge of the campus, adjacent to First Street and Willson Park.
"While the UM-Flint already is doing an excellent job serving its existing regional student base, I expect the addition of on-campus housing to contribute to enrollment growth and expansion," Mott President William S. White said. "And this also should increase the momentum in the redevelopment of downtown Flint by adding several hundred young residents to other nearby apartment, loft and housing developments."
"This is a historic moment for UM-Flint, the beginning of a new era of growth and enrichment. Student housing will be the link between the achievements of the first fifty years and those of the next fifty. It will give new life to the university and its neighborhood," said Chancellor Juan E. Mestas. "We are most grateful to the Regents, President Coleman, and the C.S. Mott Foundation--especially to its President, William S. White--for this birthday present."
The C.S. Mott Foundation has a long history of support for the University of Michigan and particularly for the Flint campus. The campus was launched in 1956 with the help of $1 million gift from Charles Stewart Mott and was constructed on a parcel of land donated from his Applewood Estate.
Including the current grant, the Mott Foundation has made 89 grants to UM-Flint, totaling more than $42 million. Last year, the foundation donated $25 million for the expansion of the C. S. Mott Children's Hospital and Women's Hospital on the Ann Arbor campus.