The Arizona Board of Regents unanimously authorized ASU to lease the Phoenix Ramada Inn for the Downtown Phoenix Campus at their meeting Thursday.
The Ramada will serve as housing for up to 267 students for two years starting this fall until permanent housing is built, said Richard Stanley, ASU senior vice president and university planner.
"The nature of the rooms convert very nicely to student rooms without renovation," he said.
Mernoy Harrison, a vice provost for the Downtown campus, said the hotel was historic.
"It is one of the oldest Ramadas in the world," he said.
Stanley said because ASU was working with an outside company, they have less control over room prices.
"We would not have direct rate-setting abilities, but we would have protections on ... rates that would take advantage of the situation," he said.
ASU President Michael Crow said this type of arrangement was common.
"These are systems that have been deployed for many, many years," Crow said.
Sodexho will take over the restaurant in the Ramada and turn it into a dining facility, Stanley said. Residents can opt to buy a meal plan, but it would not be required.
"We are not assuming a mandatory meal plan associated with the facility downtown," he said.
Regent Anne Mariucci expressed concern because the two-year lease was non-renewable.
"We were unable to extend that option beyond the two-year period," Stanley said. "[It] does push us to move expeditiously."
Stanley said the University will likely work with private student housing developers to build permanent residence halls.
These developers would construct and maintain the residence halls, but residents would still fall under Residential Life policy, he said.
He said there are no finalized agreements with any companies yet.
"This is a model that we think will allow us to develop housing faster," he said.
Stanley said housing rates would be comparable to ASU-built residence halls.
"[Housing developers] are very market-aware, so they're not interested in having extremely high prices," he said.
Where these residences will be built has not been determined, Stanley said.
"There's a number of sites that are possible, some of which are owned by the city of Phoenix and some are owned by private entities," he added.
ASU predicts up to 700 students will live on the Downtown campus by fall 2008, and nearly 1,000 by fall 2009.
ABOR also approved the University's request to lease space for the Downtown Phoenix campus from the city of Phoenix.
"We will be, in effect, tenants of those buildings for 20 to 25 years until the bond is repaid," Stanley said.
When the bonds approved by Phoenix voters in March are repaid, Phoenix will transfer the buildings to ASU without cost, he added.
Reach the reporter at james.kindle@asu.edu.