A residence hall and dining center on the St. Paul campus will sit empty for the 2026-27 academic year. The university confirmed Bailey Hall is closing as part of a long-term initiative to revitalize housing and student spaces on that side of campus.
The university says pulling the building offline early lets it get a jump on revitalizing St. Paul campus housing rather than waiting for a longer-term timeline, and that no decision has been made yet on whether the closure is permanent.
Students who had picked Bailey as their first choice, along with residents of its Living Learning Communities, are being reassigned to other halls based on the preferences they already submitted, with LLC groups kept together so residents stay with the same peers. The university says it still guarantees housing to every incoming first-year student who requested it, that confirmed roommate pairings will carry over, and that housing assignments will go out by July 31. Bailey Dining Hall will also be dark for the year; St. Paul campus students will eat at the St. Paul Student Center, with grab-and-go options for anyone whose schedule doesn't line up, and the free shuttle between the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses keeps running.
No dining or housing staff are being laid off — the university says affected employees are being moved into similar roles elsewhere. Officials frame the closure as an early step toward a planned St. Paul Campus Center meant to consolidate learning and student-support space on that campus.