UConn Replacing Old Housing With 'Clean Energy Technology' Complex

STORRS, CT — Demolition is scheduled for the aged and outdated Mansfield Apartments complex at the University of Connecticut and plans call for it to be replaced by "modern apartment-style student housing served by clean energy technologies."

Details of the plans were released Wednesday.

UConn officials said fuel cells would be generating most of the complex's electricity and geothermal wells will be used for the majority of its heating and cooling.

UConn officials said the new complex, "will be among the most environmentally self-sustaining facilities on a campus that has committed itself to being a leader in the research and use of clean energy technology."

The 16-acre site is located near the corner of Routes 195 and 275 at the southeastern corner of the UConn campus. It is scheduled to be cleared over the course of this academic year and into the summer of 2023. Crews have already been on the parcel for remediation and the removal of "certain materials" in the old brick buildings, UConn officials said.

The 270-bed, townhouse-style Mansfield Apartments complex dates to the 1940s, and has been used in the past few years only as "COVID-related isolation housing," UConn officials said.

The new complex will feature three connected buildings offering about 900 beds with a "contemporary design, amenities more appealing and useful to today's students, and climate-friendly technology," UConn officials said.

If all remains on schedule with the design and receiving necessary approvals, construction will begin in summer 2023, with a targeted opening date of fall 2025, according to UConn officials.

See more about the project on the UConn Today site.