Expansions, updates and renovations are a necessity of modern life as buildings quickly become outdated. College buildings are no exception; students can be demanding customers.

Not known for subtlety, the University of Southern California is embarking on a massive construction project for student housing. The USC Village will include eight residential colleges housed in six buildings for about 2,700 students. The residents will have easy access to more than 100,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floors, including major retailers such as Target and Starbucks. The Village also will include a 30,000-square-foot fitness center. It will host a transit hub, offer 466 parking spaces for retail customers and provide covered parking for 1,500 bikes near building entrances.


The USC Village covers 15 acres, comprising 1.2 million square feet of space. The project is biggest expansion of the Los Angeles campus.


According to the USC News, the $700 million development has provided 1.7 million man-hours of work and employed more than 4,800 people. Most of these jobs have gone to local labor. Fifteen percent of USC Village workers live within five miles of the project, while 30 percent live in the city of Los Angeles. The majority (69 percent) live in Los Angeles County.


On the materials side, 110,000 cubic yards of concrete have been poured, 23 million pounds of rebar were used and 1.2 million miles of wire have been installed.


Morrow-Meadows Corp., City of Industry, Calif., was the installer.


“Morrow-Meadows has been very proactive,” said Willy Marsh, USC project director. “The craftsmanship has gotten better and better as the process moves along.”


Marsh said that everyone has bought into the demanding expectations of such a large project. The USC Village is on schedule to open this fall for incoming students.