By Paul Choquette III

It is a difficult time to run an American college or university. Challenges lurk around every corner: there’s policy uncertainty in Washington, with ��financial impacts,��changes to U.S. demographics could cause changes to enrollment trends–not to mention the����associated with a degree.��

This broader environment makes it far more challenging for administrators to��win what is rapidly becoming a fierce competition for student attention and enrollment as they����than ever before.��Schools��with��modern, updated��and��amenitized��physical infrastructure��—��facilities and housing alike��—��are best equipped to��win this competition and��manage the current��and forthcoming��challenges facing the sector.��

Given the tough financial climate, that might seem like bad news, but that misses a truly exciting trend in the industry: schools can engage in public-private partnerships (P3) with��integrated, experienced firms to reduce costs, deliver projects at speed and scale, and��bring an adaptable model to position��themselves for success.����

The Student Housing Supply Crisis

Let’s start by looking at student housing.��There��is an extreme mismatch between supply and demand��on America’s campuses.����The��top 175 American universities had����of students on campus in 2025. The situation is not much��better off-campus, with��the overwhelming majority of��privately-owned, purpose-built student housing near campuses��.��

This drives prices up even as students expect��innovative amenities on��campus.��

Gone are the days of the traditional dorm, with preferring that arrangement. Instead, students increasingly want single rooms or apartment-style living, coupled with social programming to foster a meaningful sense of connection. This no longer applies to just undergraduates or underclassmen: upper-division students also want to live on campus.��

Demographic Shifts and Rising Competition

It’s also worth considering the upcoming demographic changes coming to the sector, with the number of American high school ��and projected to decline for the next 16 years.����

This tells us that there could be some demand relief to a��housing submarket with no current vacancy. It also��reinforces��that institutions will now find themselves subjected to far more competition for student attention��and dollars.��

The P3 Model as a Strategic Solution

That’s where the P3 model comes in. This is the work done each day at Gilbane, which helped colleges and universities renovate or create 16,000 modern student beds last year alone, ranking us as a ��and��the�� in the nation.��

The primary issue to solve is, as usual, financial. But there is also urgency. These projects must be delivered against academic schedules and conducted in a rapidly evolving landscape for students and administrators.��

That’s why Gilbane created a design-build-finance-operate-maintain model: it allows the company to accelerate schedules, support long-term accountability and save schools money. Under this model, Gilbane manages the entire construction and development process from start to finish. It also handles the long-term operation of the facilities themselves — creating one point of accountability.��

The model works.����

Case Study: Palm Beach Atlantic University

Consider Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBAU), where Gilbane is ��with a new, 25-story mixed-use residence hall. The partnership is creating 990 new student beds, and generating new dining, health,��recreation��and parking facilities.����

The best part of this endeavor, however, is��that it�� while correcting outdated master leasing agreements that were preventing PBAU from retaining housing, dining and parking revenue. Gilbane broke ground several months ago and will be finished ahead of the 2027-28 academic year.��

Expanding Beyond Housing

The Gilbane P3 model brings expanded solutions to existing educational clients and helps those higher institutions deliver more than housing. The power of this approach can help universities with projects that may require complex phasing, long-term operating plans and coordination with multiple stakeholders.��

At the University of South Carolina (USC), for example, the P3 model is supporting a new home for the School of Medicine on its emerging Health Sciences Campus. Through this vertically-integrated approach, Gilbane brought predictability to USC and state-of-the-art classrooms, research labs, medical simulation spaces, a health-science library and event spaces, creating a new a permanent downtown health sciences campus for the University.��

A Path Forward for Colleges and Universities

College — and the built environment that shapes it — is changing quickly, and so are student (and parent) expectations. But as each of these transformational developments demonstrates, solutions to these complex problems do exist. Better yet, those solutions can be executed without additional strain on already-strapped financials. ��

Paul Choquette III, a fifth-generation member of the Gilbane family, serves as Regional President for Gilbane Building and leads the firm’s national Public-Private Partnership (P3) strategy.

Read the full article in the Higher Education Issue of ������Ů.

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By Lindsey Coulter��

COLUMBIA, S.C. ––��The University of South Carolina (USC),��has reached a major milestone with the “topping out” of the new School of Medicine at the��university’s��Health Sciences Campus in Columbia’s��BullStreet��District.��This marks the placement of a building’s final structural steel beam.��USC students, staff, and project team members had the opportunity to sign two beams, both of which will be permanently installed and displayed in the building.��

Construction began in February��2025,��and the��$300 million, 330,000-square-foot��facility is set to open in August 2027. The project��represents��a public-private partnership between USC and national��integrated real estate development��construction firm��Gilbane, which is leading��the planning, design,��development��and construction of the project.��Other key project members include BOUDREAUX as lead architect in collaboration with design architect SLAM Collaborative, construction manager partner Cumming, construction manager partner Brownstone Construction��Group��and development consultant Restoration 52.������

Upon completion, the new facility will blur the boundaries between interdisciplinary research and medical education, offering��state-of-the-art��classrooms, research labs, medical simulations spaces,��health-sciences library, and collaborative indoor and outdoor learning and event spaces.��

“We are proud to partner with the University of South Carolina in delivering their new School of Medicine, a significant investment by USC in innovative research and medical education, and the first building on its new Health Sciences Campus”��said��John Keegan,��Senior��Vice��President at Gilbane Development, in a statement. “Though public-private partnerships such as this, Gilbane is helping to transform university campuses across the country, developing and building everything from academic and research spaces to student housing to auxiliary facilities.”��

“For inspiration, the USC School of Medicine Building at the Health Sciences Campus looks back to the legacy of thoughtfully conceived architecture and outdoor spaces on the main campus while simultaneously looking forward to establishing an ecosystem for sustaining state-of-the-art health sciences education and research,”��add��University Architect Derek Gruner.����“Education and interdisciplinary research will be combined under one roof so that each will engage with and contribute to the other through extraordinary classrooms, well-equipped simulation spaces, wet and dry labs, numerous study environments, and dramatic public spaces.”��

The realization of the new����is one of the key goals of USC Next, a 10-year master plan of proposed improvements and capital projects designed to meet the needs of USC Columbia students, faculty, and staff through 2034.����The campus will seamlessly integrate with the broader��BullStreet��District, contributing to its vibrant, mixed-use community.��

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In his most recent role, Ritua served as Gilbane’s project director where he managed several education, healthcare and commercial projects with a portfolio value of $860 million. During his time as project director, Ritua led groundbreaking projects, including the $280 million . A LEED-accredited professional, he holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering with an emphasis in building science from the University of Southern California.����

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NORTHRIDGE, Calif.—General contracting firm Gilbane Building Company has broken ground on a new annex educational facility for California State University, Northridge.

As designed by Gensler, the 62,000-square-foot, $43.4-million Sierra Annex will be cited adjacent to the existing Sierra Hall. Sierra Annex will be home to a 3,000-square-foot main lecture hall, seminar rooms, classrooms and a few additional lecture halls. Gensler’s design incorporates natural lighting, and the hall’s flow of space is meant to encourage collaboration. The classrooms are also designed to be flexible such that they can be adapated for multiple uses.

Gensler and Gilbane previously collaborated on CSUN’s Associated Students Sustainability Center, which came online in 2017. In a recent announcement on the firm’s website, Gilbane’s area manager Raul Rosales said that his company enjoys a long-term working relationship with CSUN and Gensler, and thus this project offered an opportunity to continue such a collaboration.

“We are excited to be working on this inspiring project that will not only be an iconic building on campus, but improve the student’s academic experience as well,” he said.

The Sierra Annex is scheduled to debut for the fall 2023 semester, with additional work to be completed sometime in 2025.

Gilbane was founded in 1870 and remains a privately run, family-operated firm, with nearly 50 offices worldwide. Their Los Angeles office has been engaged in the Sierra Annex project.

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TEMPE, Ariz.—Construction firm Gilbane and its team have worked fruitfully with Arizona’s Gila River Indian Community on a new educational building, called the Blackwater Community School. The two-story structure will have the capability to serve students from preschool and on through 5th grade. The school will also host the local Family and Child Education Program (F.A.C.E.).

Gilbane’s partners on the job included electrical engineer Rosendin, based in San Jose, as well as architectural designer Breckenridge Group.

The $25 million project’s aim was to replace an older school that existed on the same 7.43-acre campus before but had fallen into disrepair. The new facility entails educational space as well as a cafeteria, multipurpose area and media center. Throughout the new campus, the contractors and architects worked with tribal leaders to hang artwork important to the two tribes serviced by the school, the Akimel O’Otham, descended from the Hohokam people, and the Pee Posh, of Yuma ancestry. Accordingly, all the artwork at the school was approved by the Blackwater Community School Board.

Historically, the Hohokam were known for their technological virtuosity when it came to irrigating crops in the extremely arid Southwest. Accordingly, artwork on the campus showcases scenes of the Hohokam engaging in agricultural activities. Furthermore, a shade structure constructed of metal was fashioned to resemble cactus ribs, a material the Akimel O’Otham used.

Rosendin, the electrical company, ensured that the artworks were properly lit. Rosendin also worked on improving exterior illumination to sports fields, playgrounds and various patio spaces as well.

“The Blackwater Community School is the heart of the community and celebrates the Gila River Indian Community’s heritage throughout the year,” Jagdish (Jack) Sharma, principal of Blackwater Community School, said in a recent statement. “Our educators take pride in our quality educational practices and the presence of traditions. This is the reason why traditional symbols of the culture are placed throughout the new campus.”

Sharma added that one of the school’s murals shows the nighttime desert, and the name “Blackwater” itself comes from how the desert’s standing water looks darkly in the evening. “There are murals like this all over campus that reflect our students’ culture enriching their overall learning experience,” Sharma said.

Parts of the construction had to be completed while students were still in session at the older buildings. Accordingly, scheduling had to be juggled so that the largest parts of the buildout took place over breaks when students weren’t at school.

“Blackwater Community School will serve as a pivotal gathering and educational spot for children and adults on the Gila River Indian Community,” Jeff Keck, senior project executive of Gilbane Building Company, said in a recent statement about his firm’s work. “Gilbane is proud to work with Rosendin and other trade partners to have safely built a new campus to support this community’s families, cultures and traditions.”

Added Ben Miller, Rosendin’s division manager: “Rosendin is proud to have built the new elementary school in the Gila River Indian Community to give students the very best environment to learn and grow. The school will serve as the hub of the larger community and support family education and culture in the local area.”

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ARLINGTON, Va.—The Heights, a new secondary school building in Arlington, is now complete. The 181,000-square-foot facility co-locates two Arlington Public School (APS) programs—a democratic alternative magnet program, and a program for students with severe intellectual disabilities.

Leo A Daly served as executive architect for the approximately $100-million project, working closely with design architect BIG—Bjarke Ingels Group. Gilbane Building Company provided construction manager at-risk services.

“The Heights creates a new architectural icon in Northern Virginia and one of the most innovative educational facilities ever built,” explained Tim Duffy, vice president and director of technical services with Leo A Daly.

“Learning and community are infused into every detail—from its twisting geometry to the bespoke learning environments that support students in their educational journey.”

The team successfully maximized density and open space on the constrained site. Five levels of classrooms are rotated around a central pivot point, creating rooftop terraces on each level that serve as outdoor educational environments. A cascading central stair stitches the five levels together, creating a sense of connectivity and community that is rare in midrise school buildings.

A lobby and gathering space, theater and gymnasium are located on the ground floor, occupying spaces of varying heights created by the rotation of the classroom bars. Public areas are accessible from the main street along Wilson Boulevard.

The large open lobby offers tiered seating for students to gather. Classrooms use flexible layouts that can be rearranged for different learning formats. State-of-the-art smart panel screens allow students to share content from their own school-issued devices for more interactive learning. Specialized spaces include a library, art studio, a kiln, science and robotics labs, music rehearsal rooms and two performing arts theaters.

Additionally, four rooftop terraces are accessible directly from classrooms on levels two through five. Each terrace provides a different scale of activity, from large gatherings to class discussions and quiet study areas. The four terraces are designed to reflect the major ecosystems of the Mid-Atlantic physiographic regions and are landscaped with native plants and tree species through an intensive green roof system.

Leo A Daly and BIG worked closely with structural engineering firm Robert Silman Associates to execute the building’s many gravity-defying cantilevers. A system of trusses transfers building loads at each level, while avoiding the need to have columns in classrooms or other large program areas, such as the gym and theater. A careful erection sequence was carried out in phases to build the complicated structure.

The project was designed in response to the rapid densification currently underway in the Rosslyn business district. As part of the West Rosslyn Area Plan (WRAP), the Heights contributes to an urban mixed-use corridor defined by civic-minded public spaces and a blend of retail, office and residential uses.

The Heights supports the learning needs of two unique APS programs housed there: H-B Woodlawn and the Stratford Program.

Based on the liberal education movements on the 1960s and 1970s, H-B Woodlawn empowers students from grades 6 through 12 to direct their own courses of study and engage directly in administrative matters. The space was designed more like a university campus than a typical high school.

The Eunice Shriver Kennedy Program—which serves special-needs students aged 11 to 22— occupies two levels within a dedicated wing of the building. Many Shriver Program students use wheelchairs and have sensory and motor disabilities that require the help of a personal companion during the day. The curriculum is individualized to each student and focuses on vocational and community skills such as daily living, communication, leisure, recreation and other skills that help with independence.

The density of the building’s program also required a careful approach to acoustical design. Spaces with the greatest potential for noise bleed—such as gyms and theaters—are located on the ground floor. Other spaces, such as music rehearsal rooms, have isolated floor slabs and suspended ceilings to buffer them from surrounding classrooms. The large auditorium uses conditioned air supplied through an underfloor plenum, achieving isolation from the adjacent mechanical room.

This high-performance, sustainable building is expected to achieve LEED Gold certification.

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