MSU Denver breaks ground on first dorm

Metropolitan State University of Denver is going vertical.

The commuter school broke ground on its first dorm Wednesday afternoon. Dubbed “Summit House,” the 12-story, 155-unit project on a 2-acre lot along Auraria Parkway is expected to open in time for the fall semester of 2027 and will be the tallest building on campus.

“We put the school here because the students were here, and now the students have been priced out of the very neighborhood where the school is. So this is a really important reason to have the housing come onto campus,” MSU Denver President Janine Davidson said at a groundbreaking ceremony.

The $117 million building will also include 22,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space on the ground floor and a 25,000-square-foot student-serving “classroom-to-career hub”