First of six luxury dorms at Charis Bible College to open in August (2024)

The first of six luxury dormitories at Charis Bible College’s main campus in Woodland Park are on track to have students move in for the fall semester in August, according to officials.

At a cost of $8.8 million each, the quality of the student housing is top-of-the-line, said Christopher Browning, construction manager and general contractor for J.H. Reich Construction.

“Everything is cutting-edge,” Browning said. “When this complex is finished, this is going to be a Harvard— that’s how we’re treating it.”

The first building for female students is nearing completion, and while giving a tour for a group of community leaders this week, Browning said he’s fairly sure the second building, where males will live, also will debut this fall.

“I think we’re going to make it,” he said.

The buildings for women will be called Grace, and the men's quarters will be named Faith.

Up to 78 students will occupy each two-story complex that also has a “daylight basem*nt.” Most rooms will have double occupancy and shared bathrooms.

Younger students are the target market for the new residential units because officials said they have the most difficulty finding housing in the community, compared with older students who have families.

From figuring out how to add shades to trapezoid windows, to which walls to decorate with coverings, nearly 150 construction workers are on-site every day, Browning said.

Four more residential complexes will open in the fall of 2025, said Andrew Wommack, founder of Charis Bible College and Andrew Wommack Ministries.

The evangelical Christian ministry produces a television show, “The Gospel Truth,” and online streaming of theological programming such as bible studies and healing courses, as well as 27 annual in-person events that include conferences and stage productions. The organization has 31 international locations and satellite locations in the United States that offer hybrid online and in-person courses.

The non-accredited bible college offers classes in one- and two-year tracks for pastors and lay leaders to work in ministry, as they learn about theology, prayer, healing, preaching, marriage, business, media and other subjects.

“I’m ready to have them finished,” Wommack said. “They’re essential; we need these dorms.”

The absence of student housing at the bible college, which Wommack founded in 1994 in Colorado Springs and relocated to Woodland Park in 2014, has been a complaint of residents living in the small mountain town 19 miles west of Colorado Springs.

Housing is so scarce that 570 applicants for this academic year stated that a lack of affordable housing in the community was the main reason they could not enroll at the local campus, Wommack said.

This school year, which ended last week, enrolled nearly 1,250 students on the campus. When built-out, on-campus housing will accommodate 1,000 students, according to Wommack.

Living in the dorms will save students money, he said.

“They’ll be able to get a dorm room and tuition for what they pay in the community for just housing, which basically allows them to come tuition-free,” Wommack said.

The new dorms are located behind the existing parking garage. A mountain design combines stucco, wood and stone to complement other buildings on the property, where evergreen trees frame Pikes Peak, several ponds attract birds and wildlife, and hiking trails abound.

Each complex has an open-beamed lounge area in the center, flanked by two pods of well-insulated living quarters.

Facilities contain a kitchen with a microwave, a laundry room with six washer/dryer units, gas fireplaces on each floor and outdoor patios overlooking green space.

Fire suppression includes copious amounts of overhead sprinklers and fireproof, smoke-sealed doors.

Students will be offered a meal plan and on-campus dining as well, with an on-site commercial kitchen preparing the food.

The student-housing project produced a heated community dispute two years ago, as Woodland Park City Council agreed with Wommack’s request to rescind a decade-old addendum to council’s approval of the mega-campus to privatize the dorms, meaning they would be subject to property tax.

Wommack objected in 2012 and in 2015, arguing he was unaware of the clause that a contractor had agreed to, and it should no longer apply. Council agreed in 2022 and construction on the dorms began.

Building a student activity center is next up in the development plans for the ministry’s nearly 500-acre campus.