LSU Breaks Ground on $200M Residential Project

Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La., recently broke ground on a new residential complex, according to university news. The South Quad residential project will consist of two buildings and add a total of 1,266 beds for freshmen students. The development comes with a price tag of $200 million, and it’s scheduled to open to students in fall 2027.

The facilities will house students from the university’s College of Engineering and the E.J. Ourso College of Business. “This isn’t just about breaking ground,” said Jeremy Doss, senior vice president of RISE: A Real Estate Company, in a university news story. “It’s about opening the door to new opportunities for our students.”

The development comes through a public-private partnership model, the same that the university has used to construct a variety of recent projects. LSU is partnering with RISE and Lemoine for construction services, as well as with Brailsford & Dunleavy and CSRS for design.

According to a university news story from June 2025, the project was spurred by a recent growth in student enrollment. The fall 2025 freshman class of about 8,000 is the school’s largest incoming class ever, breaking the record for the eighth consecutive year.

“Frankly, it’s a good problem to have, because other institutions around the country and some around the state are faltering,” said Interim President Matt Lee. “There are some challenges that come with that. I’d be disingenuous if I didn’t say that.”

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Montclair State University Starts Construction on $120M STEM Building

    Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., recently broke ground on a new $120-million Interdisciplinary Science Building, according to university news. The university partnered with HoK Architects for the project’s design, and it’s scheduled to open in time for the 2028–29 academic year.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • DLR Group Hires Three for Higher Education Practice

    Integrated design firm DLR Group recently announced that it has brought three new hires on board to help shape its higher education practice in California and the northeast, according to a press release.

  • Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. The College of Western Idaho's Agricultural Sciences Complex has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Grand Prize award in the category of New Construction.