Students started moving into the new, modular housing complex last week.
Today (Thursday), Selkirk College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of its Silver King Campus student housing initiative in Nelson.
The roughly $10.1 million project is one of two housing initiatives underway at the college, with another 114 student housing units currently being constructed at the Castlegar campus, slated to wrap up this fall.
Both projects are modular builds; the Silver King Project is comprised of 12 modular units.
The project broke ground in November 2022; the three-story facility has 36 total beds, including two accessible suites, one family room with bunk beds, and 32 “Jack and Jill” style shared suites.
There are also 21 bathrooms and combined common areas with kitchen and laundry facilities on each floor.
The combined price tag for both the Silver King and Castlegar projects is $37.7 million, funded in collaboration with the Columbia Basin Trust and the province’s Homes For People Action Plan, which is committed to developing 12,000 new student beds on campuses throughout BC.
In attendance at today’s ribbon-cutting ceremony was Nelson-Creston MLA Brittny Anderson.
Anderson said the completed project provides relief for students and allows the college to accommodate future growth.
“The new student housing will also help prepare the college to accommodate future student growth. For the past decades, Selkirk College has seen the number of student enrollment in classes grow more and more each year and will help release some of the pressures on the rental housing market here.”
The units aren’t at full capacity yet, but students started moving in about a week ago, occupying most of the third floor, for now.
Diogo Monteiro, a first-year student enrolled in Selkirk’s electrical foundations program, moved to Nelson from Penticton for his studies.
Monteiro started his program at the beginning of February, although the project was not finished yet, Selkirk was able to accommodate a suite for him at the 10th Street Campus student housing complex until the Silver King project wrapped up.
He says Selkirk’s ability to offer housing units was a key factor when deciding what institution to study at, adding that he feels relieved to have secured a place to stay.
“I love it; it’s close to campus, I can save money on gas because I don’t have to drive, I got stressed thinking about having to find a place to live but it’s so nice to be in the dorms and have it all accommodated for me. If the dorms weren’t available here, I probably would’ve tried to find a school closer to home to commute from.”
The project wrapped up on budget and on schedule. The price per student for a standard room is $895/month.