HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The idea of live, work, and play is rising to a whole new level at UAH. The school is about to turn something very old into something new, just for students.
The former 58-acre Executive Plaza site, between UAH and Midcity, is where the second major development will happen as the university seeks to modernize its campus.
Jackson Martin, a rising junior, hopes the revitalization will bring big things to the university.
"Just entertainment and fun stuff to do, you know, residence halls and also things for research," he said. "That's going to give UAH more of a college-town feel that it hasn't had before."
Martin is an Information Systems major. His concentration is Cybersecurity. He's grateful to know that more research opportunities will be available for those in his field of study.
"UAH is already an R1 research institute," he said. "So, we have great research here, but more research is better.
"It gives more students opportunities to get experience, to put that on their resume and get professional development. So things like cybersecurity, engineering, business, all that kind of stuff, it'll be great to expand that for sure."
Assistant Vice President of Facilities and Operations and Campus Architect Christian Reed said the plan for phase one includes an anchor research facility, some commercial office space, and common space. But that's not all.
Retail and entertainment opportunities will be included, along with student housing. Right now, UAH has about 8,700 students.
"One of the greatest needs we have on campus is residential housing," Reed said. "So, we believe this this property, or this project certainly will allow us to be able to grow in the future."
The plan is to select the master developer by the end of 2024, and the goal is to start construction on phase one of the development by 2026.
UAH is currently accepting submissions for interested master developer firms. Firms can submit through mid-August.