With nearly 50% of Purdue undergraduate students living on campus, Purdue's on-campus housing has hit a 17-year high, according to school officials. They anticipate that number will increase in the coming academic year.

“If residential higher ed is going to retain its appeal to the best faculty and students, it will have to offer attractive settings for living, recreation and successful business neighbors,” says Purdue president Mitch Daniels. “We don't know of a comparable town-gown collaboration like ours along State Street, which we hope with the adjoining innovation district will provide the foundation for a next era of growth and prominence for Purdue.”

WEST LAFAYETTE, IN—Purdue Research Foundation and Browning Investments LLC have just formed a partnership to develop about 450 acres at the west end of the Purdue University campus called the Purdue Innovation District. The plan will form over the next 15 to 20 years and eventually total several million square feet with more than $1 billion in total investment.

“This opportunity is unique in its scale and potential impact as a catalyst for innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurialism,” says John Hirschman, president and chief executive officer of Indianapolis-based Browning. “Academic and private industry research and discovery will be purposefully integrated with commercial activity and residential options in a transformative development for Purdue University and West Lafayette.”

Browning will lead the master planning effort that will take place over several months and produce a design for streets, land use, infrastructure, and open spaces to serve as a road map for future development. The full plan will include student housing; non-student residential; hospitality; lab, research and other collaboration spaces; office; discovery and entrepreneurial spaces; retail; public spaces; and aerospace industry-focused research, advanced manufacturing and light industrial space.

“This is a tremendous long-term opportunity to develop several million square feet across a full spectrum of property types,” says Adam Chavers, senior vice president of Browning. “The vision is large enough that Browning and other developers will be executing vertical development over the next 15 to 20 years.”

With nearly 50% of Purdue undergraduate students living on campus, Purdue's on-campus housing has hit a 17-year high, according to school officials. They anticipate that number will increase in the coming academic year.

“If residential higher ed is going to retain its appeal to the best faculty and students, it will have to offer attractive settings for living, recreation and successful business neighbors,” says Purdue president Mitch Daniels. “We don't know of a comparable town-gown collaboration like ours along State Street, which we hope with the adjoining innovation district will provide the foundation for a next era of growth and prominence for Purdue.”