Several capital improvements began in August at St. Edward’s University, including construction of a new $40 million student housing project.

St. Edward’s plans to build a student apartment complex with 124 units that can house 450 students by the start of the fall 2017 semester.

Kimberly Kvaal, St. Edward’s vice president of financial affairs, said the apartment complex is the largest capital improvement project on campus.

“St. Edward’s has been growing; Austin traffic has been getting worse, and housing in Austin continues to be challenging,” Kvaal said. “We’ve seen increased demand from our students to live on campus, so we are responding to that demand.”

The combined $55 million in improvements also includes major renovations to the university’s historic Main Building and Holy Cross Hall.

The Main Building was built in 1888, and the Holy Cross Hall was built in 1903. There are a few restoration projects underway at both buildings, such as new roofs and repairs to exterior masonry, Kvaal said.

“Those will allow the buildings to be functional for us going another 100 years into the future,” she said.

An extensive interior renovation will be performed in Holy Cross Hall, transforming the space into a support services hub for faculty and the new home for the school for humanities.

The university also plans to build a new operations facility for the campus safety, postal services, facilities support and purchasing departments.

All projects have a completion estimate of fall 2017.