To help meet a pressing need for more housing in the Upper Valley, Dartmouth has finalized a deal to finance a $15.2 million, 21-unit development for faculty and staff south of campus in West Lebanon, N.H.
The new housing is part of President Sian Leah Beilock’s commitment to add 1,000 beds for faculty, staff, and students in the next 10 years, which she first outlined in her 2023 inaugural address.
The project, located on five acres on Oak Ridge Road off of Route 10, is just over a mile from the Dartmouth Green. It is already fully permitted by the Lebanon Planning Board, and site work has begun. The project is being developed by Occom Path, Inc., a real estate company owned by Jeff Shapiro ’83, from whom Dartmouth will initially lease the houses as they are erected at the site.
Dartmouth finalized the mortgage deal with Shapiro’s company on Tuesday, Feb. 18.
“Increasing the availability of high-quality homes close to campus is crucial to our ability to attract and retain the best faculty and staff and to alleviate the stress of housing scarcity throughout our community,” says Josh Keniston, senior vice president for operations.
The houses are being built by Huntington Homes, an East Montpelier, Vt.-based modular home manufacturer.
The development will feature 14 two-story, three-bedroom homes; three duplexes with a total of five three-bedroom units and one two-bedroom unit; and one single-story, three-bedroom home designed for accessibility. All units will include a single-car garage.
The Oak Ridge Road site—formerly the location of a commercial radio tower—is near Dartmouth-owned Sachem Village, Campion Rink, and playing fields owned by the Town of Hanover.
The new housing will be on Advance Transit and Campus Connector bus lines, making it easily accessible to downtown Hanover and Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center as well as the Lebanon, West Lebanon, and White River Junction, Vt., shopping districts.
Keniston says the modular construction model to be used at the Lebanon site—in which the framing and insulation of each house is completed in an off-site, climate-controlled setting in approximately three weeks, with the siding, roofing, and finish carpentry completed on-site—will help control costs, ensure the energy efficiency of the new homes, and accelerate the building process.
The first two homes are scheduled to be available for sublet this September, and the remainder will come online on a rolling basis until construction is completed in fall 2026. At that time, Dartmouth will purchase the property and continue to rent the homes to employees at market rates.
“This investment is an exciting first step in Dartmouth’s ongoing efforts to take a more holistic approach to supporting our employees,” Keniston says. In addition to the housing initiative, Keniston says Dartmouth is working to expand and improve access to childcare services and transportation.
In September 2024, Dartmouth announced a $500 million investment in new and renewed housing for undergraduates, an initiative that is upgrading existing housing and building new, apartment-style residence halls on West Wheelock Street, including Russo Hall, currently under construction, and the recently announced Class of 1989 Hall.
The undergraduate housing initiative is also upgrading approximately 60% of existing residence halls over 15 years. To date, work has been completed on the renewal of Zimmerman Hall, Andres Hall, and Brace Commons in East Wheelock House. Fayerweather Hall, which is part of South House, is currently under construction, and work will begin on Mass Row, part of School House, in summer 2026.
In addition, Keniston says he expects to see relief in housing pressures for graduate and professional students as the new West Wheelock residence halls come on line.
Along with its own housing construction projects, Dartmouth has also doubled its commitment to the Upper Valley Loan Fund to $3 million to help with development of new housing in the region. The loan fund last year helped finance 67 new units and is helping support about 150 prospective units in 2025.
