Howard University is continuing its strategy of partnering with developers to bring life to old buildings around its campus, this time with Urban Investment Partners.

UIP will spearhead the $50M project to redevelop two former Howard dormitories into 162 market-rate rental apartments.

The buildings, George Washington Carver Hall at 211 Elm St. NW and Lucy Diggs Slowe Hall at 1919 Third St. NW, sit about two blocks east of the Howard University Hospital. They were both built in 1942 and occupied as student dorms until a 2012 Campus Master Plan called for closing them.

Howard finalized a long-term ground lease with UIP to redevelop the properties after introducing them to the market in March. Construction is expected to begin in early 2018.

The apartments will have studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units and amenities such as a fitness center, lounge and outdoor space. Fifteen of Carver Hall's units will be loft-style apartments with 16-foot ceilings. UIP is partnering with Bonstra Haresign as the architect for both buildings.

The project is the latest in a series of partnerships Howard has formed with developers to renovate its old buildings. Just last month, the university unveiled the $36M renovation of its Howard Plaza Towers West building, a partnership with Corvias, which is also renovating the east building. In April, construction began on the renovation of Howard's Meridian Hill Hall, a partnership with Jair Lynch to convert it to 206 apartments.

UIP also has a pattern of redeveloping old university buildings. In February 2016 it acquired three American University office buildings in Tenleytown with plans to convert them to apartments. In August 2016, it bought an old George Washington University dorm, formerly the Howard Johnson embroiled in the Watergate scandal, and is in the process of renovating it into a 200-unit apartment building.