Next summer, more than 500 students will be able to move into a new 20-story apartment complex at 21st and San Antonio streets. 

The complex, “University House,” will include 188 rooms, 504 beds and a five-story parking garage. 

The property is under the joint administration of two Lutheran campus ministry organizations, which agreed to lease the space to Inland American Communities, a national student housing company. Inland signed a 75-year lease with the ministry organizations to develop and manage the property. On its ground floor, the complex will house facilities for the ministries’ student center. 

Michael Newman, a reverend in Texas District of the Lutheran Campus-Missouri Synod, helped Lutheran Campus Ministry initiate the partnership with Inland. Newman said he believes additional housing in West Campus will benefit the UT community.

“We wanted to go with a developer that served students well and we could work with well,” Newman said.

Paul Collinson-Streng, pastor at Lutheran Campus Ministry, said students in the ministry were involved in building-developer selection process.

“Students really lead in the ministry and can make important decisions,” Collinson-Streng said. “It’s not that often you have college juniors and seniors getting to sign off on a multi-million dollar development project.”

Jordan Connell, English senior and president of the ministry council, said students worked with members of the ministry’s property board to determine which developer would best serve the ministry’s needs.

“We saw a few presentations, and Inland was the one that I felt was most willing to work with us and most understanding of our situation — that we wanted to stay on the bottom floor and maintain a presence,” Connell said.

David Pierce, senior vice president of development at Inland, said pre-leasing will begin this summer, and the building will be open for move-in by summer 2016.