PMO Corner: UIT supports public safety services in U’s P3 housing complex
PMO Corner is a semi-regular feature that highlights the work of UIT’s Project Management Office (PMO).
New student residence hall to open in fall 2026
Though its role will be more limited than in the past, UIT efforts are integral to the success of a long-term, $155 million student housing initiative underway south of Kahlert Village, in the footprint of a parking lot that replaced the Annex building in 2021. The new housing complex is expected to open in fall 2026.
Benjamin Bushell, senior IT project manager
In September 2024, the U’s Board of Trustees approved the first phase of a new student housing project that helps fulfill President Taylor Randall’s push to transform the U from a “commuter school” to a more residential college campus by 2030. On March 11, 2025, the Board of Trustees approved a campus physical development framework that reenvisions campus as six distinct districts in an effort to create “college town magic” and meet Randall’s 40,000-student enrollment goal (the U currently enrolls 38,257 students).
The six-story residence hall, which will add 1,446 beds for first-year and upper-division students, is funded in part by Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities (ACC) through a public-private partnership (P3).
“ACC and the university’s UIT organization have built a truly collaborative partnership, effectively coordinating efforts across several entities both at the U and within ACC’s network of vendors and engineers,” said Katherine Linné, ACC director of Planning and Construction. “We are excited about how our partnership with UIT will deliver a best-in-class experience for next year’s Utes!”
The agreement gives the university rights to ground floor program management (17,000 square feet featuring a gaming hub, dining, and fitness areas), marketing, licensing, and advertising (MLA), and physical security (e.g., doors, cameras, fire alarms, and elevator phone lines), while shifting development and occupancy risks, construction and ownership costs, and property management to ACC.
“The least expensive cost of a building is building it. The most expensive cost is managing it,” John Creer, the U’s chief real estate officer, said in an @theU article.
An aerial view of construction on August 6, 2025. (Screen capture of a video posted on the U of U’s Instagram account)
Benjamin Bushell, senior IT project manager with the UIT Project Management Office (PMO), said “partnering with a private housing developer is certainly a novel approach to student housing at the U, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know ACC and its processes.”
Another novel aspect of the project is a change in who manages IT infrastructure. In most previous student housing projects, UIT oversaw the design and installation of voice and data pathways — all network, cable, and voice systems — within residence halls. This time, Bushell said ACC “will manage Wi-Fi, internet, and most other network services.”
“The key challenge has been network segmentation — the university and ACC will run separate but parallel networks,” Bushell said. “The university will handle a small footprint of network-connected services inside the building like public safety systems, security cameras, and building automation. This requires careful coordination to ensure each network operates independently without interference, which is different from previous university building projects where UIT manages all IT infrastructure.”
UIT Core Infrastructure Services Director Abraham Kololli, said ACC will maintain its own service set identifier (SSID), the name that identifies a particular Wi-Fi network, and PMO Director John Penrose said student devices signed on to the UConnect network “should seamlessly switch to the ACC network when they enter the building.”
According to the P3 agreement, ACC’s network must perform seamlessly with university technologies and meet industry standards, and the U retains the right to inspect repairs or improvements.
Tim Goodale, senior product manager for UIT’s Cable Plant Team, said UIT is connecting the building to the U’s fiber optic network backbone — “all
the data conduits and pathways up to a hand-off point.”
“We’ll connect their switches to the university’s fiber, but we don’t manage the fiber
in the building itself. The signal and everything on it belong to them,” Goodale said.
“Technology-wise, it’s a fully functional and capable building, we’re simply supporting
ACC by managing some narrowly defined services that tie back to the university.”
Goodale said ACC “has been really attentive to what the university needs.”
“This partnership will result in a great educational and housing experience for our students, and that’s all that really matters,” he said.
The highlighted area shows the location of the new residence hall on the corner of Mario Capecchi Drive and South Campus Drive, south of Kahlert Village. (Image created via Google Earth)
Artist renderings of the new residence hall. (Images courtesy of the University of Utah)
The campus physical development framework, approved by the university’s Board of Trustees, envisions enhancements of six campus districts or “neighborhoods.” (Image courtesy of the University of Utah)
Artist renderings of the U of U campus in the future. (Images courtesy of the University of Utah)
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