A Montana State First

Fountain Residential Partners has broken ground on the 499-bed Stadium View luxury apartments in Bozeman, Mont. just a half-mile from the heart of campus. Until now, some students have had to look as far as 20 miles away to find housing. (That's how far your parents had to walk to get to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow, all year around.)

Ryan Griffis of Dallas-based Fountain Residential tells us it’s the first student housing-designated apartment building serving the school, and the fall 2015 opening can’t come soon enough; on-campus housing was oversubscribed by 350 students last year (students had to get really friendly really fast) and Bozeman’s apartment buildings and rental houses run 99% occupied. Enrollment grew from 12,300 in fall ’08 to 15,300 in fall ’13, and MSU plans another 15% growth over the next five years.

The building is going up on 11th Street across from the football stadium on 10 of 127-acres of active farmland. (That will make Saturday morning tailgating a lot easier.) The City anticipates a commercial corridor on 11th Street, so Fountain Residential went mixed-use and pedestrian friendly, devoting 1,600 SF to street-level retail frontage. The one- to five-bedroom units will have condo finishes, keyless entry, WiFi, and access to 5,000 SF of amenities like picnic tables and grills, a hot tub, bike and ski shop, storage, fitness and study space, and parking. Grand Campus Living will manage the property; rent will be about $600 per bed each month.