UK to begin construction on $37 million honors dorm

Construction will soon begin on a new honors college residence hall at the University of Kentucky, thanks to the largest gift in UK’s history.

Kentucky native Thomas Lewis donated $23 million last fall to establish Lewis Hall, a new dormitory for honors students, and to pay for programming and new faculty.

The $37 million dorm will be built by Education Realty Trust (EdR), the private developer building several other dorms at UK.

The five-story, 346 bed residence hall will be on the corner of Hilltop and University Drives. EdR will provide the bulk of the equity, about $27 million. UK and the Lewis Foundation will pay for the rest. The dorm is scheduled to open in August 2017.

In the last five years, the number of honors students at UK has grown from 750 to 1,400.

In other action Friday, the UK Board of Trustees approved a plan to equip the fifth floor in UK Albert B. Chandler Hospital's Pavilion A at a cost of $37 million.

The board also approved several donations, including $1 million from trustee emeritus Bill Gatton for the renovation of the UK College of Law. Officials said Gatton has given $46 million to UK, making him the school’s largest donor.

The board also accepted $5 million from alumni Howard Lewis for the Gatton College of Business and Economics renovation. So far, UK has raised $63 million of the $65 million needed for the project, officials said.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 4:21 PM with the headline "UK to begin construction on $37 million honors dorm."