Lambton College is looking for a financial partner, and builder, to construct a new student residence on campus.
President and CEO Rob Kardas said a year was spent exploring various housing concepts that would appeal to both domestic and international students.
"We're moving to the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, where we are looking to see who is out there that has the expertise, the interest and the capacity to partner with us on the building of a new residence," said Kardas. "So, we're looking for third parties to come forward and give us some indication of interest in this project."
He said they're looking for an experienced developer to build a residence that ensures the "college continues to be an educational destination of choice for students from around the globe."
"This would, ideally, be a company that has done these projects before and has proven to have the capacity. There's obviously a lot to a project like this. When you're looking at modernizing the student housing experience on campus, that's the rationale behind a third party partnership."
He said they want the developer to operate the facility.
"We're looking for someone to come in and not only design and construct, but also operate," said Kardas.
He said a site near the current north building on campus is an option.
"There's space and it brings it a little more deeper into campus, a little more centrally into campus, and there's a good footprint there."
Kardas said the project is over a year from being shovel ready.
"We're looking at well into 2025. The RFQ will be released, we then have to go back to our board and get approval on a next stage, which would then be to shortlist the RFQ, and then hopefully we have a couple of proponents and then we would go into a Request for Proposal (RFP), where the process gets a little more serious, a little more in-depth."
He said they're interested in a residence with 300 to 350 beds.
"I'm hoping that part of what comes forward here are some innovative ideas, as to how we can engage our international students more in residential living on campus. I'm hoping we can do some work to figure that out."