The University of Montana broke ground on Tuesday on its first new residence hall in 30 years, a project the Missoula flagship says will offset increased housing needs that have come with enrollment growth in recent years.
The university’s new 171,000-square-foot residence hall is tentatively set to open in the fall of 2027, boasting 600 beds. It’s being built on the southwest end of campus, next to Pantzer Hall.
“If there’s one issue that Montanans understand right now, it’s the importance of accessible, safe, affordable housing,” UM President Seth Bodnar said on Tuesday, nodding to Montana’s housing shortage and rising cost of living. “Our students feel that challenge particularly acutely,” Bodnar said.
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University of Montana President Seth Bodnar speaks during a groundbreaking ceremony for a new dorm on campus on Tuesday. The new dorm will be the first constructed in 30 years.
The new hall, which has yet to be named, will have the largest bed count on campus, with mostly double rooms.
It will have 17 “communities” inside the building, each of which will have intentional design layouts to incorporate social gathering spaces, private areas, and study groups, UM’s Housing Executive Director John Nugent said.
A large multi-purpose area will be included in the space, along with a community kitchen and more modern features like an automated mail system and “smart lounges” (spaces with updated technology).
McKenlie Ballard, a UM senior, spoke about the role residence halls play in fostering a sense of community for students. She previously worked as a resident assistant at Aber Hall and now is the community development coordinator at UM housing.
“Looking back to my freshman and sophomore years as a resident in the residence halls, I truly cannot imagine what my UM experience would be like without living in Jesse Hall,” she said. “Talk about an unforgettable experience.”
As of Tuesday, 1,976 students were registered for residence halls for the upcoming 2024-2025 academic year. That’s up by 55 students from last year, according to data from university officials.
Of those nearly 2,000 students, 1,368 are freshmen, 518 are upperclassmen, and 90 are new transfer students.
Bodnar said the housing crunch has been exacerbated by three years of enrollment growth at the university, and the new dorm aims to address that.
“It’s going to allow us to meet that demand, as well as provide flexibility to make better-informed, long-term decisions about how to best utilize our housing supply here on campus,” Bodnar said. “Which, of course, affects not just our students but affects the entire Missoula community.”
He said the dorms are part of a larger “infrastructure refresh” on campus.
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