URI | Ongoing Development Projects | Kingston Campus

[New England Born & Raised]

There is typically always a building under new construction or renovation at the URI campus in Kingston. I thought it might therefore make sense to have a dedicated thread for these and provide some general information.

University of Rhode Island
Public land-grant research university founded in 1892
Category: R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity
Kingston Campus - 1,254 acres
Undergraduate Enrollment: 14,500 (approximately 50% in state and 50% out of state resident breakdown)
Graduate Enrollment: 3,500
Students living in Campus Housing: 6,000

 

[New England Born & Raised]

New Student Residential Housing - 1,100 beds to be built and managed by Gilbane - December 2024

URI is trying to build more on campus dorms. They're doing it with a creative solution​

URI is trying to build more on campus dorms. They're doing it with a creative solution

Under the deal, Gilbane would build and manage the dorms even though they'd be built on state land.

www.yahoo.com

While this practice is common around the country at many schools, a project such as this involving an outside partner has never been done at URI. New infrastructure typically is state funded and most of it must be approved by voters via a bond ballot question.

URI, unlike many other state flagship universities, houses a low percentage (less than 50% of undergraduates) of its student body on campus. Much of this is due to the small size of RI as no one living in the state is more than an hour from the Kingston campus. The school therefore has a large in state commuter student base. Furthermore, the location near the seasonal coastal vacation areas of the state's South County region also contributes as many homeowners rent their vacation properties out in the off season to students as they ordinarily would not be using them. This has in turn created issues in some nearby towns with a large student presence such as in Narragansett which has sought to limit the number of students in properties.


The last new residential housing built on the URI campus was the 900 bed Brookside Apartments (the two buildings in center of photo below) that were completed in 2020. It is made up furnished suites of four and six single-occupancy bedrooms with their own kitchens and common area.

 

[New England Born & Raised]

New URI Biomedical Sciences Building - $87.5M
Bond ballot question approved by voters in Nov-2024
Still in design stage - no construction date as yet

 

[New England Born & Raised]

URI Athletics Infrastructure Improvements - Starting soon
$65.8M in already approved public funds provided by state / $20M in private funds to be raised by the school
Projects Include:
Approximate $42M in improvements to Meade Stadium (football). Most of this will be used to replace the main east grandstand which has structural issues which have impacted its use
New Outdoor Track & Field Facility

Athletics Facilities Improvements Underway

Down the hill at URI's athletic facilities, lots of things are changing–for the better.

www.uri.edu

Present 2024 Configuration of Meade Stadium:
The east stands slated for removal and replacement are at the bottom. The west stands are attached to Ryan Center (basketball venue with capacity of 7,567 that opened in 2002) with entrances at the top to the arena concourse level that has concessions and restrooms. The upper top suite level of the arena overlooks the field.

A possible proposed rendering of a new East Grandstand:

 

[New England Born & Raised]

URI Fine Arts Center Renovation and New Construction
Ongoing multi year project - slated to be entirely completed by September of 2025
$99 million project to upgrade the existing 56-year-old Brutalist style cement performing arts center on Upper College Road. To be completed in phases, renovations to the center have been partially funded by a voter-approved bond issue of $57.3 million in 2021, along with state and University funds. The project provides significant upgrades to the center, including construction of a 71,000-square-foot, three-story academic building that will feature a new theater lobby and art gallery on the first floor. In all, the project includes more than 166,000 square feet of new and renovated space.

 

[New England Born & Raised]

Anything done to the existing fine arts center will be an improvement. It is an extremely ugly Brutalist style cement structure that has been very much showing its 55+ year age. The exterior parts of the existing building being kept have been in the process of being clad with brick.

Photos of the building before renovations started

Ongoing Refacing

 

[New England Born & Raised]

These are some of the new buildings that have opened on the URI Kingston campus in the last fifteen years:



Brookside Hall Apartments - opened in 2020
Two buildings - 203,000 sf - $94M
500 beds - 4 and six person suites with separate kitchens and common area

Fascitelli Advanced Engineering Building - opened in 2019
190,000-square-foot six-story structure - $150M

Robert J. Higgins welcome Center for visitors - opened in 2018
11,000-square-foot one story center - $7.98M

Richard E. Beaupre Center for Chemical and Forensic Sciences - opened in 2016
134,623-square-foot four story structure - $68M

Avedisian Hall (Pharmacy) opened in 2012
144,000 square-foot - five story building - $75M (similar in style to the adjacent separate Biotechnology Center)

Hillside Hall Dorm - opened 2012
120,000 s/f structure - 429 beds - $42M

Center for Biotechnology & Life Sciences - opened in 2009
140,000SF - $54M