Princeton University
The Princeton-American Campus Communities partnership began in 2010 when Princeton awarded ACC its first development through a competitive procurement process. Since then, our partnership has expanded to include 1,912 beds in three communities delivered over four phases in response to the University’s Housing Master Plan for cohesive, vibrant and sustainable housing for its graduate students and staff.
Flexible Ownership Arrangements
Our partnership with Princeton underscores how ACC works with universities to create a development, financing and management approach that fits the goals of each project. ACC served as developer, construction manager and operations manager for all three Princeton communities. ACC owns Merwick Stanworth through a long-term ground lease using the American Campus Equity (ACE) program and is 100 percent financially responsible. Princeton funded the two graduate communities using its own balance sheet. We have a hybrid management arrangement for all communities, where ACC provides facilities maintenance and operations services while Princeton handles leasing placements and rent collection.
Housing Graduate Students, Faculty and Staff
Princeton’s housing communities are purpose-built for the unique needs of graduate students, faculty and staff. For example, Merick Stanworth replaced a 1950s-era residential community with a combination of new apartments, stacked flats and townhomes built on the foundation of the existing buildings. All developments prioritized affordability, sustainability and preserving natural green space for recreation.
- Merwick Stanworth: 593-bed apartment and townhome community for faculty/staff; opened in phases in 2014 and 2016; LEED Gold certified
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Lakeside Graduate Apartments: 715-bed apartment community with parking garage;opened in Fall 2015; LEED Gold certified
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Meadows Graduate Housing: 604-bed apartment community part of the new master planned campus across Lake Carnegie; opening in Spring 2024; LEED Silver and Passive House certified
Sustainability Spotlight: Passive House Design
All of ACC’s developments at Princeton are built to our rigorous sustainability standards and are LEED-certified. Meadows Graduate Housing at Princeton is the first Passive House-designed project for ACC and Princeton, and one of the largest Passive House projects in the nation. Passive House is a global certification for “passively” keeping buildings at a comfortable temperature year-round with minimal energy inputs.The all-electric Meadows community conserves energy through high-performance building systems and a highly efficient building envelope with increased heat recovery ventilation, deep sun-shading, triple glazed windows and enhanced exterior insulation. The energy the community does use for heating and cooling is thermal, sourced from 150 geo-exchange well bores located through the adjacent softball stadium.
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