PFW bulldozing ahead on new student housing project

It’s uncommon at a groundbreaking ceremony to see bulldozers already pushing dirt, or to hear that familiar beeping sound as they move in reverse, but progress is happening quickly on the 600-bed student housing project on Purdue University Fort Wayne’s North Campus.

The work did stop long enough on Tuesday for PFW Chancellor Ron Elsenbaumer to welcome a full tent of attendees that included the project’s key stakeholders, members of the campus community, elected officials, and other area leaders. Multiple speakers described how the 213,000-square foot complex, which will be called Trace at Purdue Fort Wayne, helps the university’s ongoing evolution.

“When I started on campus in 2009, the thought of being able to stand up here today and say that over 25%--and counting—of our student body resides on campus would have been a dream I thought we would never realize,” said Krissy Surface, vice chancellor for enrollment management and the student experience. “But we are! And, with the opening of Trace in a couple of years, we can grow.”

The project is part of a public-private partnership with Gilbane Development Company.

“When the students come back in the fall, there will actually be a building there,” said Geoff Eisenacher, Gilbane’s vice president for development. “These 24 months are going to go by in the blink of an eye.”

Greg Justice, PFW’s associate vice chancellor for facilities management, said construction on the site is ahead of schedule and part of the foundation has already been poured. Steel framing will start appearing between Thanksgiving and early December .

“They built a similar building at Western Michigan University, and we went to see that space to see what they already had to offer and what will be available to our students,” said Marcus Weemes, PFW’s director of student housing. “That’s one of the reasons why we’ve been able to build something faster because they took their core and made tweaks to it to fit our property line and space configurations.”

Gilbane is leading a similar project at Eastern Michigan University that kicked off in 2022. 

A video recap of the ceremony can be viewed below.