Two years out from Conestoga College’s anticipated opening of its campus in Downtown Guelph, housing options seem scarce at the moment.
In September 2026, the college anticipates about 1,500 students will begin their studies at the former home of The Co-operators on Macdonell Street.
“We’re looking into all opportunities for our students,” said Tim Schill, Conestoga’s vice-president of facilities and capital development.
“Ideally, we would like something that’s a high rise, 300 to 500 beds would be ideal.”
But the only property the school has purchased in Guelph is a 2.2 acre piece of land on Imperial Road beside the campus on Speedvale.
When the purchase of the Macdonell Street building was announced publicly in April 2023, president John Tibbits touted that concepts are being explored to find housing for students, including the school building its own housing.
"One concept is the idea of having a building where the first few floors are academic space, and the last six or seven (floors) are residence space," he said in April 2023. "We know that for our students, the price point is lower than for university students in general.”
When asked if that was still an option on the table, Schill stated there was never any planned residential in that building.
When prompted about land options in Guelph, he added property in Downtown Guelph “is not readily available” and “we’re looking at every opportunity possible.”
He did acknowledge the original plan of opening in September 2025, but the date was later pushed back.
“We had talked about a phased opening, but with the design time we needed and moving the current tenants out, that’s taking a bit more time and phased openings are not ideal to begin with,” he said.
The plan is to have 1,500 students for fall 2026, and increase the number to 2,500 for fall 2027.
The goal is to eventually ramp that number up to 5,000, though a specific timeline on that was not offered. During the 2023 announcement, Tibbits stated it would probably take four to five years from the time the campus opens to get to 5,000 students.
Demolition has already begun in phases, as employees of the insurance agency move over to its new head office on Cooper Drive.
Two floors have already been demolished, and two more are slated to see demolition begin next week.
“We plan on starting rebuild renovations by mid to late fall (2024),” he said.
