Established as a papally chartered graduate and research center, the Catholic University of America (CUA) officially opened as an institution of higher education in the District of Columbia on November 13, 1889. Steeped in history, Pope Leo XIII formally approved the founding of CUA, incorporated on 66 acres of land in Northwest Washington, DC. President Grover Cleveland laid the cornerstone for Caldwell Hall on May 24, 1888, and John J. Keane, Bishop of Richmond, Virginia, was appointed rector in November 1889.
Tracy Lower, Timmons Group’s DC land development team leader, began working with CUA in 2010 through a task order to design a campus road. Timmons Group’s relationship with CUA has since expanded to include the West Campus Solar Project. Breaking ground in August 2022, the completed array will comprise 42 rows of solar panels, producing approximately 10,000 megawatt-hours of clean energy per year. This output is equivalent to removing 1,500 cars from the roads annually, marking it as the largest solar array in the region.
The generated energy will serve both the university and supply power to some DC residents. Additionally, the university intends to construct habitats beneath the panels for bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, and other pollinators, along with placing bee houses on adjacent land.
In addition to efforts on the solar project, the Timmons Group DC land development team also collaborated with the Michael Vergason team on the reimagined Perini Plaza project, a natural treed public space located outside the architectural building entrance. The firm’s continued work on the campus includes the restoration of the softball/baseball field at Cardinal Stadium alongside the Smith Group and, most recently, the design for a temporary modular residential neighborhood on campus that will go into rezoning this month.
Today, the campus occupies over 176 acres and is the largest university in Washington, DC, by land area. The university currently has 2,929 undergraduate students, 2,130 graduate students, and over 90,000 alumni.
