The Ontario government is providing $100 million in repayable financing to help build two new student residences and academic spaces at Trent University in Peterborough.
Announced Monday (October 5), the investment through Building Ontario Fund is part of a $384 million financing package involving Trent University, the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), and project developer Knightstone Capital Management.
Building Ontario Fund is an $8 billion independent Crown agency that partners with institutional investors and Indigenous communities to finance public infrastructure in Ontario in six priority areas: affordable/student housing, energy, transportation, long-term care, municipal and community infrastructure, and critical minerals.
According to the province, the new residences at Trent University will accommodate 1,400 students and add approximately 134,000 square feet of academic and student space on the east bank of Trent’s Symons Campus.
“Our government is using innovative financing to unlock new investments and create new opportunities for projects that otherwise would not happen,” said finance minister Peter Bethlenfalvy in a media release.
“By working with institutional and private-sector partners, we are helping Trent University expand its campus and create more housing options for students while strengthening the local economy and supporting long-term growth in Peterborough.”
The announcement marks the first investment of Building Ontario Fund alongside a Canadian pension fund. The provincial investment will be repaid once the residences are occupied and generating revenue, with the repaid funds invested in Building Ontario Fund’s other priority infrastructure projects.
The funding will support the new Gidigaa Migizi College and a new residence for the existing Otonabee College, projects that Trent says will expand on-campus accommodation while helping ease pressure on Peterborough’s rental housing market.
Construction is expected to be completed in August 2029, according to the province. Trent’s updated project timeline lists a fall 2029 opening, a year later than the fall 2028 target reported when the university broke ground in June 2025.
Gidigaa Migizi College will become Trent’s sixth college, joining Catharine Parr Traill, Champlain, Lady Eaton, Otonabee, and Peter Gzowski. The university’s colleges combine residential accommodation with academic, dining, and community spaces.
The new college is named for the late Curve Lake First Nation Elder and former chief Gidigaa Migizi (Douglas Williams), a Trent professor who died in July 2022. His name means “spotted eagle” in Anishinaabemowin.
Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects and Indigenous architectural firm Two Row Architects, the college incorporates Indigenous design principles developed through consultation with Trent’s Indigenous academic and cultural communities and Michi Saagiig First Nations. Plans include storytelling and smudging spaces, natural materials, and cultural symbols.
Trent University’s website states that Gidigaa Migizi College will include accommodation for as many as 700 first-year students, alongside classrooms, faculty offices, and student spaces. Its crest, created by First Nations artist Jared Tait, features a spotted eagle and a pike representing Williams’ clan.
The new Otonabee residence is designed to nearly double that college’s existing residence capacity with at least 600 new beds.
Both developments form part of Trent’s housing strategy, approved by its board of governors in 2019.
