UVM halts plans for new student housing, citing financial costs

The University of Vermont is halting plans for a $100 million housing project that would have housed about 540 undergraduate students. UVM said the project was no longer cost effective due to construction costs, a lack of available labor and high interest rates.

The Catamount Woods project came as a collaboration between former Mayor Miro Weinberger and UVM President Suresh Garimella in December 2023. The project was intended as part of a solution to the growing problem of affordable and available housing in Burlington. In less than six months, just when the permitting process was starting, the school opted to pull the plug.

UVM Chief Financial Officer Richard Cate said that initial plans for the project reported in fall 2023 already put the cost for students at the threshold of affordability. Updated estimates that the university received "about a week ago" from the contractors showed a significant increase in costs, leading UVM to the decision to scrap the project.

Cate said the numbers are "simply too high" and not affordable for students.

Catamount Woods would have been built on what is currently a parking lot near the DoubleTree Hotel at the southern edge of Centennial Woods. The project would have consisted of two buildings with three-bedroom apartments.

Housing shortage in Burlington

Housing has been a point of contention for UVM and the city, with people struggling to find affordable housing both on and off campus. The project was meant to bring students back on campus and away from the competitive market in the city, where many students have been renting apartments that are cheaper than campus housing.

The city has previously asked UVM to put a cap on enrollment, hoping to alleviate the strain that UVM students add to the market. An agreement was never reached, and UVM's enrollment continues to rise. Current UVM enrollment records date back to 1996. Fall of that year the school had 10,146 total students. Fall 2023 enrollment saw 14,320 students.

Cate said that UVM is continuing to accept their goal of "around" 3,000 new students every year, and that the housing crisis is not their problem alone, but something "statewide" that a lot more people in all industries across the state need to work to solve.

"It's a conundrum," Cate said. "There's more people, so we need more places to live, but the cost needs to be affective."

While Catamount Woods began as a collaboration, Cate said there has not been a meeting with the city yet. He said he hopes once the new administration is more settled in, they can sit down and open up this discussion again. He said he hopes there are other solutions they can take on.

The mayor's office and City Council President Ben Traverse did not respond to an email request for comment in time for publication.

This story may be updated.

Sydney P. Hakes is the Burlington city reporter. Contact her at SHakes@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Catamount Woods housing project halted by UVM due to high costs