DBI Projects Continues its Student Housing Development Success

Core, shell, and exterior framework for each of the four dorm buildings is now complete. Interior framing, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing is in progress, as is window and building envelope installation. When finished, the new residences will add 435 beds to Bard’s housing capacity. Foundation on the Head House, a student gathering space located in the center of the new community, was recently completed and steel will be erected within the month. Altogether, the project footprint will be 135,000 square feet across a 6-acre site. The team from DBI is working in tandem with KBE Building, who is serving as construction manager on the project, and KPF, the project architect.

One of the most exciting features of the development is that each of the five buildings meets passive house standards – a set of ultra-efficient design principles that have been proven to reduce heating and cooling savings by up to 90% compared to conventional builds, while still prioritizing thermal comfort and air quality for building occupants. Insulation will wrap the entirety of each building, which reduces energy usage. Passive house also calls for supplemental outside air circulation above standard ventilation protocols, which leads to healthier air quality – and healthier residents. This ambitious building standard is in addition to the development’s LEED-qualified design, an equally rigorous building metric that is regarded globally as the preeminent marker of sustainability.

DBI is both the owner’s representative and developer on the project. As developer, DBI arranged for Bard’s securitization of over $100M in tax-exempt bond financing for the North Campus project. This current development, in conjunction with DBI’s oversight of the college’s Performing Arts Lab development designed by renowned architect Maya Lin, is the second project DBI has developed for Bard. In 2021, DBI developed the Bard College Berlin Residences, a two-building, 60,000 square foot student housing project on Bard’s campus in Germany’s iconic capital city.

Our work with Bard is a representation of the firm’s reputation as a foremost leader in educational real estate development, and the North Campus residences are a segment of the over 5,000 beds DBI’s student housing team has delivered locally, nationally, and internationally.