Trustees approve residence hall construction project for PNW, expanded housing lease for Purdue University in Indianapolis

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — To address growing enrollment demand, Purdue trustees on Friday (Dec. 13) approved plans for construction of a 150-bed residence hall at Purdue University Northwest and an expanded lease for another 272 beds at Purdue University in Indianapolis.

The $29 million, three-story residence hall at Purdue Northwest will feature a combination of pod-style, single- and double-occupancy rooms, with a common kitchen, laundry facilities, study areas and a student lounge. Construction is scheduled to start next July, with completion expected by July 2026.

To be built at the corner of Woodmar Avenue and 173rd Street in Hammond, the residence hall project will accommodate PNW’s enrollment growth and student housing demand by addressing a waitlist that has been present annually since 2022.

This fall PNW welcomed 1,700 new undergraduate students and the largest number of graduate students since before the COVID-19 pandemic. Total core enrollment — the number of students attending classes on the PNW campuses — is 6,049 students.

For Purdue University’s main campus in Indianapolis, trustees agreed to amend and extend the master lease agreement for the remaining 272 beds in the 74 apartments at LUX on Capitol through the 2026-27 academic year. The 11-story, 370,000-square-foot housing facility, at 501 N. Capitol Ave., includes a total of 672 beds in 196 apartments and 374 parking spaces.

The extended $16.9 million lease commitment with Scion Group — now totaling $8.1 million in year one and $8.8 million for 2026-27 — will be financed by Auxiliary Funds-Housing/Dining.

In December 2023 trustees approved executing the initial master lease with LUX on Capitol for 400 beds in 122 apartments for fall 2024. The number of student applicants to start in Indianapolis is trending upward for 2025.

Purdue’s main campus enrollment in West Lafayette and Indianapolis this fall reached a record 58,009, a figure that included 760 new-beginner students in Indianapolis. Enrollment at Indianapolis, an expansion of Purdue’s West Lafayette campus, totaled 2,834 students this fall.

Trustees also adopted a resolution requesting Purdue Research Foundation’s assistance on various facilities matters related to Purdue in Indianapolis.

About Purdue University

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue’s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap — including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue Computes and the One Health initiative — at https://www.purdue.edu/president/strategic-initiatives.