The University of Michigan's first new first-year housing in more than 60 years opens Saturday, Aug. 22, adding 2,300 beds to Central Campus and boosting the university's undergraduate housing capacity by 25 percent, according to the University Record.

Wolverine Village, a five-building complex on the former Elbel Field site between Hoover and Hill streets, is the first U-M housing built specifically for first-year students since Oxford Houses opened in 1963.

Early move-in runs Saturday, Aug. 22, through Sunday, Aug. 23, with general move-in Aug. 24–30, according to the University Record and WILX. As of Thursday, Aug. 20, the university had not specified whether all areas of the complex, including Building 4 — the last of the five halls completed — would be fully operational at move-in, according to ClickOnDetroit.

The residence halls range from five to seven stories and include doubles, singles, suites and a new "tripleable double" that can house three students if needed. Laundry is included in the room rate for the first time at U-M, and the complex features covered bicycle parking, a rooftop courtyard and a designated pet relief area for support animals.

The complex also includes an all-electric dining hall seating more than 800 — the first on campus to combine geo-exchange heating and cooling with solar panels. Steve Giardini, senior director of Michigan Dining, said the shift from natural gas to electricity has been a long-standing sustainability goal for the department.

Building 5 is named Dr. E. Royster Harper Hall, honoring the former vice president emerita for student life who served four decades at U-M. It is the first building on campus named for a Black woman. The remaining four buildings are themed after the Great Lakes.

Vice President for Student Life Martino Harmon said the project grew directly from student input. More than 2,600 undergraduates contributed to planning through surveys, town halls and design sessions, according to the University Record — and students chose the name "Wolverine Village" themselves.

Michigan Housing will begin offering daily tours of Wolverine Village on Wednesday, Sept. 2; capacity is limited and registration is required.