UA officials hope to create space for 1,200 students downtown by 2013.

President Robert Shelton and Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup spoke at the UA Visitor Center on Friday to present two potential development teams’ ideas for more student housing.

The aim is to reduce mini-dorm demand and create other housing options around the line of the new modern streetcar. This would increase the potential of the streetcar to connect campus and for classes to be held downtown starting next year as well as the National Institute for Civil Discourse, according to those involved with the project.

“”A part of every great city is a great university,”” Walkup said. “”We knew this was the right thing because (downtown) was the heart of our city.””

Walkup said this would help people realize the impact of the modern streetcar on the city and the university.

Capstone Development Corp. with local developer Jim Campbell and Peach Properties submitted the two selected proposals, and according to Shelton this is a true partnership between the public and private sectors. Both teams submitted proposals in response to the university’s call for public-private student housing partnerships issued last year.  

Shelton said he ””cannot use enough superlatives”” to describe it.

Both proposals would try to locate the dorms near proposed stops on the streetcar line and work in to the amenities of downtown, as well as a new city parking garage to allow for easier transit to and from campus.

More details will become available as they emerge.

— Kristina Bui contributed to the reporting of this story.