A stroll around Hoboken’s only higher education facility presently features a soundtrack of construction buzz, and the biggest project on campus that looks to reshape the city’s skyline will be commencing in the coming weeks.

Two glass towers and a new university center will soon be rising on a hilltop property at Stevens Institute of Technology, who recently put up fencing around two buildings just south of the Howe Center. Demolition work is slated to commence soon at Jacobus and Hayden Halls, two older brick buildings that will be replaced by the ambitious University Center.

The project is made possible by new zoning enacted by the city last year, which created a University District that allowed greater building height in certain areas of the campus. Hoboken’s planning board later approved the institute’s 75,000-square-foot University Center, which will be LEED Silver Certified and rise about 222 feet at the highest point. Plans were drawn up by Baltimore-based Design Collective and Wallace Roberts and Todd.

The project will consist of an extensive three-story university center building with 21- and 19-story glass towers rising from the brick base. The towers will be linked by a breezeway and will accommodate approximately 1,000 beds in single, double, and suite-style apartments. The tower portion of the development will return many students to Stevens who are currently living in off-campus housing around Hoboken.

The University Center at the project’s base will include student and faculty lounges, a new fitness center, a conference area, a new food service and dining venue, a C-store, new space for student organizations, and office space. It will feature a large outdoor plaza facing east that will fully showcase Stevens’ signature views of New York City.

The imminent groundbreaking of the University Center comes at a busy time on campus, as construction of the Gianforte Academic Center is well underway and the Babbio Garage was completed last year. To accommodate the University Center buildout, student club and activity spaces that were in Jacobus Hall will be relocated to the newly renovated Alexander House this summer.

Construction of the University Center and accompanying towers is slated to be completed during the institute’s 2021-22 academic year.

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