Carleton will not be getting a private residence building after all, opting instead to finance, build, and manage the new building themselves.
The decision was made Dec. 12 at a meeting of the Board of Governors, Duncan Watt, vice-president (finance and administration), said.
An expression of interest was made in the summer of 2013 to have a private sector company run and manage a 500-space residence building.
Nine companies were chosen, whittled down to three, and eventually to one, Watt said.
The university decided to compare the private sector proposal with a scenario where the university took over the financing, building, and operation. In the end, the university’s scenario made more sense, Watt said.
“Our recommendation from the administration to the board was that we do it ourselves. And that’s what the board accepted,” he said.
The biggest factor in the decision, Watt said, was that a privately-run residence would have to pay around $540,000 in property taxes to the City of Ottawa.
“That’s a big deal, because in the scale we’re talking about, the building will generate about $5 million in annual revenue,” Watt said. That property tax would take away about a tenth of the revenue.
The university’s decision to build the residence drew criticism from Carleton’s Graduate Students’ Association (GSA), which has a community garden in the space north of Leeds Residence where the new building is proposed to be built on.
GSA president Grant MacNeil said while he was happy the residence would not be run privately, the fact that their community garden is being moved is still not ideal.
“It’s good to see that less university space is being privatized. We want to see the university for the public good and not for profit. But regardless who runs it, it’s still moving our garden,” he said.
The association is still in negotiations over where the garden will be moved to. They have a preliminary site planned behind the Nesbitt Biology Building, though that could change before the actual move happens.
“Nothing is set in stone . . . if there’s issues with that site that are irreparable, it might have to be moved,” MacNeil said.
Watt said if everything goes as planned construction for the new residence will start in August 2014, and the residence will open in the summer of 2016.
