LARAMIE (WNE) — After nine years of planning, a construction date is in sight for the new University of Wyoming residence hall project.

The $250 million project promises to bring a new level of competitiveness and quality to the UW campus — initiatives that Wyoming legislators supported to revamp the state’s only university.

“It has a big impact on how the campus is organized; how transportation works, how parking works,” UW architect Matthew Newman said during a meeting with Laramie City Council. “There’s things an actual housing project can do to make our students successful and we wanted to integrate that.”

The project is meant to replace the outdated residential facilities currently available on campus. The last time the university built a new residence hall was in 1967, Newman said.

The UW team developed the new plan using studies of residence halls at other universities and worked to incorporate architecture that will be conducive to creating living-learning communities and higher retention and graduation rates.

It will center around the construction of two residence halls located on the UW campus west of 15th Street. The south hall will sit at the intersection with Willet Drive, and the north hall at the intersection with Lewis Street.

The dorms are strategically placed to bring students closer to on-campus resources that can improve their experience, like Half Acre Recreation and Wellness Center, the student union and Coe Library, Newman said.