OU is actively leasing a new on-campus upperclassmen community, indicating their readiness for the opening in August.

“We do have a waiting list on certain floor plans,” said Caleb Calame, Leasing and Marketing manager for OU Cross Neighborhood.

The Cross Neighborhood housing facilities will be for OU students only, however some of the amenities will be open to the public.

“If it benefits OU, it benefits the Norman community as well,” said Jordan D’Silva, an OU senior who works for Cross OU Leasing and Marketing. “Cross is a great way to attract new people, which is always great for the university and for Norman.”

The construction cost is $194 million, according to Clark Nexsen, one of the many private for-profit businesses involved on the site.

“We refer to Cross community as a public-private partnership, something that OU has not done before,” said Debra Levy Martinelli, special assistant to the Vice President. Both Martinelli and Calame refer to the project as “a nonprofit, funded through and educational resource group out of Oklahoma.”

OU Cross Neighborhood is the newest action of the Live OU umbrella marketing campaign, which also markets the new residential colleges as well as OU Traditions. Live OU is the university’s effort to encourage upper-class students to live on-campus, said Martinelli.

The initiative to start the campaign came directly from OU President David Boren, said Calame.

The new community is located on Fourth Street and Asp Avenue. It will welcome its first occupants in August 2018.