Groundbreaking Marks Start of Student Housing Project on Darden Grounds
By McGregor McCance
A brilliant fall morning provided the perfect setting for a celebratory groundbreaking ceremony on 24 October that marks the start of construction on a project that will bring student housing to the Grounds of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.
UVA President Jim Ryan joined with Darden Dean Scott Beardsley; Provost Ian Baucom; University Architect Alice Raucher; the School’s students, faculty and staff; and members of the project’s design and construction teams for the turning of the ceremonial shovels.
The ceremony also honored the transformative, $100 million gift of David LaCross (MBA ‘78) and his wife, Kathy. A portion of the gift is earmarked for the student housing project, while other portions have already funded Darden initiatives including endowed professorships, the recently launched LaCross Institute for Ethical Artificial Intelligence in Business, the LaCross Botanical Gardens, seed funding for the renovation of the Faculty Office Building and other strategic priorities.
“This housing is about much more than just creating a place to live,” Beardsley said. “It’s about increasing and improving the student experience.”
Ryan also highlighted the benefit to students and their experience of being able to live on Grounds, during his remarks at the ceremony.
“I think the payoff will be enormous, both socially and academically,” he said.
Ryan and Beardsley offered their deep gratitude to the LaCrosses, and each also referenced an observation LaCross previously made about his time as a Darden student. With no on-Grounds housing available, LaCross calculated that he spent some 300 hours in commute between his Charlottesville housing and the Darden School during his years here.
“I can think of much better ways for business school students to spend 300 hours,” Ryan joked. “But in addition to saving time, UVA was built on the premise that living and learning together helps students develop as scholars, as leaders and as people.”
The $150 million student housing project is one part of Darden’s dynamic Master Plan, which includes key components designed to enrich student experience; enhance student and faculty collaboration and research; modernize facilities; and assist in the recruitment and retention of students, faculty and staff. Elements include renovation of the Faculty Office Building, improvements to the faculty research building, and creation of the Darden Global Innovation Nexus.
When completed, the student housing project will add 218 units and 350 beds across two buildings. Units will primarily be one- and two-bedroom apartments, along with studios and three-bedroom apartments. One building will be constructed on the space between Wilkinson Courtyard and the Darden parking garage, while the second will be located just behind the Abbott Center.
The housing project – along with the continued success of The Forum Hotel – provides a financial contribution that Darden will be able to invest in strategic priorities and initiatives that support the School’s mission.
In his remarks, Beardsley said Darden once had around 550 students, but will have around 700 Full-Time MBA students based in Charlottesville by 2025. “We’ve also doubled our faculty and staff, and so we’ve simply outgrown our space,” he said.
The new student housing will allow Darden to eventually house up to 80% of First Year Full-Time MBA students on Grounds, while also alleviating some pressure on the Charlottesville community’s housing market.
LaCross, who along with many others participated in development of the project plans along the way, said the student housing will help create a Darden environment that is even more immersive and enriching.
“School participation in class is one thing, but social proximity with your classmates will, I think, change the student experience here very substantially. And I very much look forward to it,” he said. “I’m very, very grateful to be able to pay something back in my lifetime.”
David LaCross earned a bachelor’s degree in quantitative methods in 1974 and an MBA from Darden in 1978. Kathy LaCross earned a bachelor’s from the College of Arts & Sciences in 1976, majoring in psychology.
“One thing that’s always struck me about Dave and Kathy is that they recognize the importance of paying it forward. Both are UVA alums, and both talk about the opportunities they had here,” Ryan said. “They’re still deeply engaged in the life of this place, which is a testament to their belief that UVA can change lives in the way that it changed theirs. In a world where it can be hard to find people you’d want your own kids to emulate, I think Dave and Kathy are the kind of people you want our students to learn from.”
The Darden School will execute on the project with UVA Office of the Architect, the architectural firm Robert A.M. Stern Architects, and Clark Construction, who were each part of the same team that designed and constructed the current Darden Goodwin Family Grounds in 1992, and Matthews Development.
The buildings will be constructed with sustainability in mind, with plans to achieve LEED certification, a designation reflecting a building’s exceptional energy efficiency, water usage, indoor air quality and materials.
Full mobilization of construction, expected in December, will necessitate certain operational and facility adjustments, including parking, access to certain areas, and vehicular and pedestrian traffic patterns, to ensure a safe construction environment. Details will be shared timely to Darden stakeholders including through an internal FAQ site, throughout the project.
Beardsley said construction is expected to be finished by the spring of 2027, with the first students moving in by June 2027.
“We’re so grateful that this helps us compete with the top business schools, but more than that, it changes the lives of students for decades and decades to come,” Beardsley said.
The University of Virginia Darden School of Business prepares responsible global leaders through unparalleled transformational learning experiences. Darden’s graduate degree programs (MBA, MSBA and Ph.D.) and Executive Education & Lifelong Learning programs offered by the Darden School Foundation set the stage for a lifetime of career advancement and impact. Darden’s top-ranked faculty, renowned for teaching excellence, inspires and shapes modern business leadership worldwide through research, thought leadership and business publishing. Darden has Grounds in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the Washington, D.C., area and a global community that includes 18,000 alumni in 90 countries. Darden was established in 1955 at the University of Virginia, a top public university founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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Darden School of Business
University of Virginia
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