Block 1 and Block 2 Residence Halls, University of Cincinnati

Enrollment at the University of Cincinnati hit 53,682 in fall 2025, more than 9,000 above where it stood in 2017. Beds did not keep pace. The answer is a $326 million, four-building complex at McMillan and Vine that adds more than 1,300 of them, the largest housing development in the university’s history.

Project Scope

The complex covers 546,606 square feet across two city blocks on a 2.1-acre site straddling Scioto Lane in Clifton Heights. Block 1 is three interconnected structures including a 20,000 square foot recreation centre and ground-level common space; Block 2 is a single building on the smaller western block. Massing steps from five to twelve storeys, clad in brick, glass, terracotta, metal and precast concrete to sit with the neighbourhood’s existing grain. A 200-space parking garage is built into the hillside on Block 1, along with an integrated police substation.

The typical unit is a two-bedroom suite housing four students, with a shared vestibule and separate bathrooms. RATIO Architects and William Rawn Associates are the design architects, UC’s own Planning, Design and Construction group under university architect Monika Watkins is the owner’s team, and Turner Construction is construction manager. Work started in August 2024, the structure topped out in spring 2026 and the buildings are due to be ready for occupancy in August 2027.

Why It Matters

Student housing at this scale is a schedule problem before it is anything else, because there is exactly one move-in date a year and missing it costs a full academic term. Topping out in spring 2026 against an August 2027 occupancy leaves roughly fifteen months for enclosure, fit-out and commissioning across four buildings, which is comfortable but not generous for 1,300 beds.

The hillside garage is the more interesting piece of engineering. Building 200 parking spaces into a slope under a twelve-storey residential structure means the retaining system and the building foundation are the same problem, and it lets the project keep cars off a site where a surface lot would have eaten the open space. The project follows UC’s $80 million Calhoun Hall renovation in 2023 and its $85 million Siddall Hall renovation in 2024, so the university has been buying capacity three years running.

Project Team & Details