Western University building 770-student residence on Richmond Street

One of two new residence buildings promised by Western University last year is set to make its way to city hall this summer, promising more housing for the school’s student body of more than 38,000.

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Going before council’s planning committee in June is a proposed eight-storey building at the eastern entrance to the campus at Richmond Street between Tower Lane and University Drive, designed to accommodate 259 suites with 772 bedrooms.

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The building at 1151 and 1163 Richmond St., next to Elgin Hall, will also include a 350-person cafeteria and dining hall, a courtyard and outdoor volleyball court, as well as study and meeting rooms. The rooms will be hybrid-style, with two bedrooms sharing private washroom facilities.

Overall, the development is great news for the ward councilor, Sam Trosow, who also sat on the university’s board of governors previously. “It’s high time that the university started building more dormitories, and that’s very welcome,” he said.

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Its one of two buildings the school announced in August 2023, aimed to serve undergraduates who wish to live on campus. All first-year students coming to Western out of high school are guaranteed a place in residence.

The second is an apartment building on Platt’s Lane for 300 upper-year and graduate students. Western has the capacity to house 7,000 students in 11 on-campus residence buildings, and the student population is expected to hit 50,000 by 2030.

“These student accommodations are a key part of campus infrastructure to support our student growth,” Chris Alleyne, the school’s associate vice president of housing, said last August.

“Western operates the largest student housing system in the province and second-largest in the country,” he said “We know how important on-campus housing is for our students and we pride ourselves on the positive and supportive environment within our residences.”

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Trosow explained that constitutes largely support more housing within Western’s borders, especially if it means relieving the pressure on housing in the surrounding neighborhoods, which he called “very predatory”.

“The off-campus housing situation is just so out of control,” he said. “There are a lot of very, very detrimental effects from absentee owners buying up what were formerly single residences and turning them into essentially boarding houses.”

Something that is of concern to him, however, is the lack of a traffic study attached to the development. The Richmond Street corridor near University Drive “is a problem already,” especially when events are happening on campus, Trosow said.

He pointed to the ongoing strike by Western’s graduate teaching assistants as an example of how traffic can build up, even when not blocking the street, coupled with garbage and food trucks that will be regularly making their way in and out to serve the residence.

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“Now, if this project were entirely in the interior of the university … I wouldn’t worry about that so much, but the fact is that this does border on Richmond and Tower Lane,” he said. “I’m sure people will have comments, particularly about the traffic.”

According to a parking assessment of the building prepared by the university on Feb. 2, the residence is set to start welcoming students beginning in fall 2026. It says that only 3.6 per cent of students in residence apply for parking, and so the school is equipped to handle the increased demand.

A representative of Western University was not available for comment on the project Friday.

— with files from Norman De Bono

[email protected]

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