Plans are coming into sharper focus for a historic Atlanta University Center college’s first new on-campus housing in decades. 

Spelman College plans to break ground next spring on a new 230,000-square-foot residence hall that will add 670 student beds near the heart of campus with technology infrastructure described as “cutting-edge” and greenspaces “designed to foster a sense of connection and belonging,” according to Develop Fulton. 

The Develop Fulton Board of Directors last week unanimously approved up to $140 million in federally tax-exempt bonds that won’t impact local property taxes to add the modernized housing at the women’s HBCU, considered one of the most prestigious in the nation.

Courtesy of Spelman College; designs, Collins Cooper Carusi Architects

Spelman officials say the new dorms, as designed by Atlanta-based Collins Cooper Carusi Architects, will allow more of the student population to live on campus while supporting community and economic development in the area. “These actions underscore our Board’s commitment to thoughtfully investing in projects that will shape Fulton County’s future,” said Kwanza Hall, Develop Fulton Board of Directors chairman, in an announcement.

A specific address for the residence hall project wasn’t available this week. But according to renderings, the building will face The Oval, a popular greenspace and events site, next to a landmark brick building that appears to be 1890s Giles Hall. 

Spelman College's The Oval greenspace, with Giles Hall, which dates to 1895, shown at top. Google Maps

Project officials forecast that construction will begin in May and finish in August 2028, in time for classes that school year. 

Once construction wraps, Spelman plans to demolish two outdated older dorms, according to Develop Fulton. The AJC reports those buildings are the circa-1960s Howard-Harreld Hall and Dorothy Shepard Manley Hall, both of which lack air-conditioning. (The same could said of the residential portion of Main Hall at another historic ITP women’s campus, Agnes Scott College, which had no AC until a recent solar-powered upgrade.)  

The dorm building will mark Spelman's first new on-campus housing in nearly two decades, per the newspaper. 

Dawn Alston, Spelman’s CFO and senior vice president of business and financial affairs, said the “transformative campus expansion” is part of a larger commitment by the college “to elevate the student experience, modernize infrastructure, and strengthen Spelman’s national leadership in higher education.” 

The upgraded dorms won’t mark the only significant addition to Spelman’s campus. 

Earlier this year, the college opened the distinctly modern, multifaceted Mary Schmidt Campbell Center for Innovation and the Arts on a high-profile corner of campus where a parking lot had operated. 

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• Images: Spelman College's new 'front porch' is rather fantastic (Urbanize Atlanta)