The University of Arizona is entering a lease-purchase deal for a $5 million North Park Avenue apartment complex to use as temporary office space before opening it as graduate student housing in 2008.
The UA leased the Corleone Apartments, 1330 N. Park Ave., from 1990 to 2004 and will use the space to house law school offices during renovation.
A real estate subsidiary of the UA Foundation completed its purchase of the 48-unit complex March 1, said Fred Boice, chairman of the Arizona Board of Regents' Capital Committee, which reviewed and recommended approving the deal.
That cleared the way for the university to lease the property, which lies within its planning area, from the foundation, with the expectation of purchasing the complex within 12 months, Boice said.
The university expects the complex will be devoted to graduate student housing by August 2008.
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The UA has struggled to provide adequate graduate student housing in recent years. The La Aldea complex at 825 E. Fifth St. opened in 2003 to replace Christopher City, a Midtown complex demolished in 2001 because of mold infestation.
During the two-day meeting, the Board of Regents also approved the latest phase in the UA's multi-year residence hall renovation plan.
Over the summer, work crews will replace the fire sprinkler system in 86-year-old Cochise Hall. The $700,000 project is the latest in a string of renovation projects costing more than $40 million.
Since 2004, the UA has completed projects at Arizona-Sonora, Gila, Yuma, Maricopa and Manzanita-Mohave halls.
Still to come are a $17 million renovation of the plumbing system in nine-story Coronado Hall and $4.2 million in projects scheduled for 2008 at Apache-Santa Cruz and La Paz halls.
Also Friday, the regents approved the appointment of Stephen J. MacCarthy as the UA's vice president of external relations. MacCarthy will start April 30, with a salary of $260,000.
MacCarthy has been vice president for university relations at Penn State University since 1996.
At the UA, MacCarthy will be in charge of public relations, communications, community, corporate and government relations, marketing and special events.
Did you know?
• Cochise Hall is one of two UA dorms built in 1921, the oldest on campus. It is on the National Register of Historic Places and appeared in the 1984 movie "Revenge of the Nerds."
