The project will be called Xavier Square and will include a combination of student housing, affinity housing, stores, restaurants, commercial office space, a boutique hotel, fitness center, student health center and college bookstore. The developer has a letter of intent to lease the property for 35 years after which the property would revert back to the university.

John Kucia, administrative VP for the university, says the project will include 100,000 sf of retail, apartments for up to 600 students, 100 condominium units, 120,000 sf of office space in one or two buildings, a 90-room boutique hotel, a fitness center and even a campus bookstore. "We think this development is an acknowledgement on the health and vitality of the university and surrounding community," Kucia tells GlobeSt.com. "Our intent is for this to be a catalyst to positive redevelopment in the surrounding neighborhood."

The project is being built on 20 acres acquired by the university during the past 10 years. First, the former BASF Chemical plant donated the site's seven acres to the school in 2000, and, in 2004, Xavier paid $8 million for the adjacent, nine-acre Zumbiel Packaging Plant site on Cleneay Avenue. The BASF plant was taken down in 1990. The university hopes to demolish the Zumbiel plant, which includes imploding a large concrete structure, sometime in the next two weeks, Kucia says.