Grand Canyon University leadership plans to speed up development and ensure that more amenities will be ready to go when the campus opens for classes in the Fall of 2015.
The 100-plus acre development was orginally going to scale larger with time, but based on feedback from potential students and parents, the development will include a $35 million, 1,000 bed “apartment-style” residence hall and other amenities on day one. The original plans called for the residence hall to be built years after the site launch.
The site will also include two 80,000 square foot lab and classroom buildings, a student union with dining, a library, a 65,000 square foot rec and multipurpose center with seating for 4,500, and more.
“The momentum is really growing in the East Valley,” GCU CEO Brian Mueller said. “Thousands of Arizona high school graduates have left the state year after year, desiring to go to a private Christian university and we just don’t have one here. It’s just long overdue in my opinion.”
The university is built to serve 5,000 students on the first day, but will expand to serve about 10,000 by the seven-year-mark. They expect 2,500 students to be registered for the first year of classes.
