UAlbany Opens Great Dane Apartments on Former Saint Rose Campus

A former College of Saint Rose residence hall is getting new life as UAlbany housing, bringing more than 200 students to Albany’s Upper Madison neighborhood.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The University at Albany is opening UAlbany Great Dane Apartments, a new student housing option on the former College of Saint Rose campus, giving more than 200 students a place to live while returning a major Madison Avenue building to active use. The university has scheduled a ribbon cutting for Monday, Aug. 24, at 930 Madison Ave., the same day UAlbany begins its fall 2026 semester.

The building is the former Centennial Hall, constructed in 2012 for Saint Rose students. UAlbany announced plans in November 2025 to purchase the property for $12 million. At the time, university officials said the 93,671-square-foot building contained 66 apartment units and 225 bedrooms.

Its reopening represents more than another residence hall. It is one of the clearest signs yet that portions of the former Saint Rose campus are finding new uses after the private college ended academic instruction in 2024.

UAlbany Great Dane Apartments Bring Students Back to Madison Avenue

UAlbany describes UAlbany Great Dane Apartments as a full-year home for more than 200 sophomores, juniors, seniors and graduate students.

The apartment building sits in Albany’s Upper Madison neighborhood, close to shops, restaurants and the Madison Avenue commercial district. Students can also use their UAlbany identification cards to ride Capital District Transportation Authority buses.

The apartments are fully furnished and air conditioned. Available layouts include:

• Two-bedroom apartments with one bathroom

• Four-bedroom apartments with two bathrooms

• Single bedrooms for residents

• Full-year housing that remains open during university breaks

• Student parking

• Residential Life services and maintenance support

UAlbany also says the four-story building uses geothermal heating and air conditioning as part of the university’s energy-efficiency efforts.

The addition expands the university’s apartment-style housing choices beyond Empire Commons, Liberty Terrace and Freedom Apartments.

A 225-Bed Addition to UAlbany Housing

When UAlbany first announced the proposed purchase in November 2025, President Havidán Rodríguez said the property would help meet demand for apartment-style housing.

“Purchasing Centennial Hall will enable the University at Albany to expand housing options for our students and meet student demand for apartment-style housing,” Rodríguez said at the time.

The university said Centennial Hall contained 225 bedrooms across 66 units and included recreation areas, study rooms, laundry facilities and parking.

UAlbany now calls the property Great Dane Apartments.

The university’s current housing information says Great Dane Apartments are available to eligible sophomores as well as upperclassmen and graduate students. Rising upperclassmen, students who are at least 21 and graduate students can choose among UAlbany’s university apartment options, including Great Dane Apartments.

What Will Great Dane Apartments Cost?

For the 2026-27 academic year, UAlbany lists the following rates per resident:

• Four-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment: $13,000

• Two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment: $14,000

Both options provide residents with single bedrooms and shared bathrooms.

Those rates place the new apartments within the general range of UAlbany’s other apartment-style housing options.

Opening Comes as Fall Classes Begin

UAlbany’s housing schedule shows university apartments opened for residents beginning Thursday, Aug. 20, with students continuing to move into campus housing through Sunday, Aug. 23.

Fall classes begin Monday, Aug. 24.

UAlbany has scheduled a Great Dane Apartments ribbon cutting from 1 to 2 p.m. Monday, Aug. 24, at 930 Madison Ave.

The university’s move-in information also specifically listed Great Dane Apartments for student storage deliveries on Friday, Aug. 21, another indication that students were already preparing to occupy the building before the formal ceremony.

From Saint Rose Residence Hall to UAlbany Apartments

The building carries considerable history for the Pine Hills neighborhood.

The College of Saint Rose’s trustees voted in November 2023 to end academic instruction after the 2023-24 academic year. Academic instruction ceased in June 2024, and New York state records list the institution as formally closed Dec. 31, 2024.

Saint Rose had been part of Albany for more than a century. Founded in 1920, the college eventually graduated more than 50,000 students.

Its closure created an immediate question for Albany officials, residents and businesses: What would happen to dozens of buildings spread across a large portion of the Pine Hills neighborhood?

The Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority eventually acquired the former campus for $35 million. County officials and redevelopment planners have been working toward a mixed-use future for the property.

The authority now describes its broader mission as transforming nearly 27 acres into a walkable district that could include housing, business, cultural uses and public space.

Great Dane Apartments provide an early example of that reuse happening in real time.

Why the UAlbany Expansion Matters to Albany

Reusing an existing residence hall carries several potential benefits.

First, students once again bring daily activity to a building that might otherwise have remained vacant. More than 200 residents can support neighborhood restaurants, stores and services along Madison Avenue and surrounding streets.

Second, UAlbany gains housing without constructing an entirely new residence complex from the ground up.

Third, the move preserves at least part of the former campus’ educational connection.

Saint Rose may no longer operate as a college, but students will again study, sleep, socialize and build friendships inside one of its former residence halls.

That continuity matters in a neighborhood where the college played a major economic and cultural role for generations.

Not Every Saint Rose Building Has a Final Future Yet

The reopening should not be mistaken for a complete solution to redevelopment of the former Saint Rose campus.

The larger property includes dozens of buildings and parcels. Some have already been assigned new uses, while long-term plans for other parts of the campus remain under development.

Albany County’s land authority has described redevelopment as a long-term effort designed to prevent deterioration while bringing housing, commercial activity and community uses to the area.

That process will require continued attention from neighborhood residents, public officials, developers and institutions.

There are also reasonable questions about how hundreds of new university residents may affect parking, traffic, neighborhood services and housing patterns.

Those concerns deserve to be part of the redevelopment discussion.

At the same time, leaving major buildings empty creates its own problems, from maintenance expenses to lost foot traffic and declining property activity.

Great Dane Apartments offer one practical response: reuse a relatively modern residence hall for the purpose it was built to serve.

A New Chapter for a Familiar Albany Building

The opening of Great Dane Apartments will not erase the loss felt by Saint Rose alumni, former employees and neighbors after the college closed.

Nor should it.

Saint Rose served Albany for more than 100 years, and its history remains closely tied to the Pine Hills neighborhood.

But successful redevelopment often begins by finding realistic new uses for buildings that already exist.

At 930 Madison Ave., that transition is now taking shape.

A building once filled with Saint Rose students will again be filled with college students, this time wearing UAlbany purple and gold.

As Albany continues deciding what comes next for the rest of the former Saint Rose campus, residents should remain engaged in the planning process and watch closely to ensure redevelopment strengthens the surrounding community as well as the institutions investing there.

Sources

University at Albany housing, event and purchase information; New York State Education Department closure records; Albany County and Albany County Pine Hills Land Authority redevelopment information; and the research instructions supplied for this article.