The University of St. Joseph will establish housing in downtown Hartford this fall at The Millennium apartments, aimed at placing upper-level undergraduate students near internships at downtown businesses and hospitals.The expansion, to be announced Tuesday, will start modestly with 10 apartments for 20 students, but it expected to increase in the future and also include graduate students in the university’s pharmacy and physician assistant programs. The graduate programs are year-round programs of study.The university’s expansion into downtown comes amid a residential space crunch at its West Hartford campus. Undergraduate enrollment is up 6% for the fall 2024-2025 school year.“It’s convenient for students, and it really facilitates their ability to have effective pre-professional experience,” Rhona C. Free, the university’s president, said, in an interview. “So it’s great for our students, and I think they enjoy the cultural activities in the city as well. So for students it works out well for both their academic interests and cultural interests.”St. Joseph’s first confirmed its interest in establishing housing in downtown Hartford in March.Living spaces in residence halls at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford are in short supply. (Courant File Photo)The city has long aspired to be a stronger college town, and the addition of student housing downtown is seen as a critical component.In addition to St. Joseph’s, the University of Connecticut plans to open a residence hall for about 200 students in downtown, likely in 2026. The $28 million residence hall will be built in the rear annex of 242 Trumbull Street, its entrance off Pratt Street.The UConn residence hall will primarily serve its regional campus at Front Street opened in 2017.Free said St. Joseph’s supports boosting Hartford’s college town goals.“Unfortunately, Hartford did suffer during Covid, and we’re just really committed to helping the city revive and become a vibrant downtown,” Free said. “We want to be a part of the growth of Hartford that we envision happening and creating Hartford as a college town.”St. Joseph’s looked at several options for its first downtown housing, including the Revel, on Trumbull Street. The Revel apartments are on the upper floors of the former Hilton on Trumbull Street, now the DoubleTree.But Free said its chose The Millennium, a former hotel converted to apartments at 50 Morgan St. because the landlord was able to furnish the rooms as a double residence hall room on a campus. The rooms include a kitchenette with desks to accommodate two students.“They set them up just the way we asked to meet the needs of the students,” Free said.The apartments would re-establish a presence in downtown Hartford two years after Saint Joseph’s relocated its pharmacy school to its main campus. After a decade in a upper floor of the XL Center, the university decided the school could better collaborate with its physician assistant program, also graduate level, being closer together.Kenneth R. Gosselin can be reached at kgosselin@courant.com.
Originally Published: July 30, 2024 at 6:01 a.m.
sekar nallalu Business,Connecticut News,Cryptocurrency,CT news,Education,entertainment,Government,hartford courant,housing,Local News,News,Things to Do,Uncategorized Suburban CT university expanding housing into city downtown. ‘We want to be a part of the growth.’