By DUANE M. ELLING
As cool autumn weather settles across the state, the campus of the University of Michigan-Flint (UM-Flint) continues to sizzle.
The school recently saw the completion of the First Street Residence Hall, a new -- and UM-Flint’s first -- student dormitory. The building is now home to 300 young people, who began arriving on August 24 with clothes, computers and other personal belongings in tow.
Construction of the $21-million dormitory, located on the campus’ southeast corner, began in July 2007. Related discussion and planning was launched several years earlier by UM-Flint Chancellor Emeritus Juan Mestas. The project was seen to completion by the school’s former Interim Chancellor Jack Kay and current Chancellor Ruth Person.
The Mott Foundation has made $2.35 million in grants to UM-Flint since 2000 for analysis, planning and implementation activities related to student housing on the campus. That support includes a 15-year, $1.75-million grant in August 2006 to help fund the development and long-term operation of the new building. 
Mestas says that the decision to build the 300-bed residence hall was supported by studies that showed an interest by UM-Flint students in on-campus living. The fact that the facility achieved full occupancy in its first semester demonstrates the strength of that appeal, he notes.
“My heart is in that building,” said Mestas at a September 8 event marking the grand opening of the dormitory. “I love the way it looks, I love the way it feels. But more than anything else, I love the fact that it is filled with students.”
As final touches were being applied to the residence hall in mid-August, construction began on a new roadway that will traverse a portion of the UM-Flint campus.
The quarter-mile long Kearsley Corridor, to be located just north of the new dormitory, will connect the existing east and west sections of Kearsley Street. Those sections are currently separated by the grounds of UM-Flint.
The $1.9-million project, funded by the Mott Foundation, was approved in May by the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents.
The corridor, notes Tim Herman, will more effectively link the school and the downtown area with other educational and cultural institutions, including the city’s Cultural Center campus, Kettering University and Mott Community College. Herman is CEO of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.
“These projects highlight what local partners, working with the community, can accomplish,” he said. “It’s that kind of progress, which is taking place around the city, that shows the renaissance of downtown Flint has arrived.”
Construction of the corridor, which is expected to be completed in November, will include new street surfaces, sidewalks, sewers and utility tunnel work, as well as landscaping and lighting. Vibration dampening measures will also be taken to protect research equipment housed in the William R. Murchie Science Building, which is located nearby.
The corridor was a key recommendation of two independent studies on development and planning for the downtown Flint area. Those studies were completed in 2003 by Sasaki Associates, Inc., a planning and design firm with offices in Boston and San Francisco, and in 2005 by the New York-based Parsons Brinckerhoff, a planning, engineering and project management company.
The 76-acre campus of UM-Flint has seen other major construction in recent years. The 6,000-square foot William S. White building, completed in 2002, houses programs in health professions and studies, and visual arts and communications, as well as the university’s school of management. It is also home to UM-Flint’s Early Childhood Development and Urban Health and Wellness centers, which were created with the support of $2.1 million in grants from Mott.
For 19-year-old Kaela Savage, the ongoing development of the campus signals a growing range of educational and life-style opportunities for students. Savage, who hails from Highland, Michigan, is a freshman at UM-Flint and a resident of the new dormitory.
“Sometimes the construction is a little noisy, but every day you see the progress that they’re making,” said Savage. “Just look around, you can tell that this is a really great place to be.”