MURFREESBORO, TN (WGNS) - Middle Tennessee State University officially turned the dirt Wednesday on a project many on campus have been waiting a generation to see. At the old Womack Lane Apartments site on the southeast corner of campus, MTSU broke ground on an $83‑million development that will bring a brand‑new residence hall and a multi‑level parking garage to an area that’s been quiet for years.
The new housing complex, called Womack Commons, marks the first time in 25 years that MTSU has added a new residence hall. For longtime Blue Raiders, that alone feels like a milestone. The university is partnering with The Annex Group, a private developer, to build the 161,000‑square‑foot facility. It will rise five stories and offer pod‑style and semi‑suite‑style living, with a mix of single‑ and double‑occupancy rooms. Students will also get study spaces, lounges, kitchens, and laundry areas — the kind of modern amenities today’s students expect but many of MTSU’s older dorms simply weren’t designed to provide.
The building will sit on about two and a half acres of the former Womack Lane site, leaving roughly eleven acres open for future housing or parking needs. Directly south of the new residence hall, construction will begin on a 541‑space parking garage, along with a 52‑space surface lot. Those spaces will serve the new housing and nearby academic buildings, which have long struggled with parking pressure as the campus has evolved.
The natural question floating around town — especially in a place growing as fast as Murfreesboro — is whether this long‑awaited housing project is a sign that MTSU is gearing up for major enrollment growth. The answer is a little more nuanced.
MTSU is growing again, but not at the breakneck pace we see across Murfreesboro and Rutherford County. The university has posted two consecutive years of enrollment increases, including a 1.7 percent bump in Fall 2024 that brought total enrollment to about 20,540 students. Freshman and transfer numbers are improving, and the university has been investing heavily in recruitment. Still, today’s enrollment remains below the 2020–2021 peak, and overall numbers are down roughly 2,000 students compared to a decade ago.
Meanwhile, the city around the university is exploding. Murfreesboro has grown 14 percent since 2020 and now ranks as the 16th fastest‑growing city in the country among those over 100,000 residents. Rutherford County has surged past Hamilton County to become Tennessee’s fourth‑largest, and it’s been the state’s fastest‑growing county for eight straight years. The region is on track to hit half a million residents by 2040.
So while MTSU’s new housing isn’t a reaction to runaway enrollment, it is a response to something just as important: the need to modernize, compete, and prepare for the next generation of students in a region that’s changing fast. University leaders have been clear that today’s students expect updated living spaces, and the campus hasn’t added new housing in a quarter‑century. In that sense, Womack Commons is as much about staying relevant as it is about accommodating growth.
The project also positions MTSU to take advantage of future enrollment gains if they continue. With Murfreesboro booming and the campus surrounded by one of the most dynamic counties in the state, the university is making sure it’s not caught flat‑footed when demand rises again.
For now, the groundbreaking marks the start of a new chapter on a familiar corner of campus — one that blends the university’s past with its hopes for the future, and gives students a modern place to call home in the heart of a city that doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
