More than 2,000 Villanova University students will begin taking classes on the former Cabrini University campus in Radnor Township on Monday, Aug. 24, capping a $170 million transformation that will reshape traffic patterns along the Lancaster Avenue corridor for years to come.
The 112-acre campus off Upper Gulph Road will house about 900 sophomores in seven residence halls and host five academic programs, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Thirteen shuttle buses will loop between the Cabrini Campus and Villanova's main quad, 1.9 miles away, on rides lasting seven to 12 minutes, Timothy Hoffman, Villanova's vice provost for finance and administration, told the Inquirer.
Radnor residents are already feeling the effects. The Radnor Township Police Department posted a traffic advisory on Monday, Aug. 17, warning of closures and delays beginning Wednesday, Aug. 19, on East Lancaster Avenue, Conestoga Road, South Ithan Avenue, County Line Road and Aldwyn Lane during move-in activities.
Villanova paid roughly $70 million to retire Cabrini University's debt and acquire its land, buildings and assets after the college closed following the 2023-24 school year. The university then spent more than $100 million on renovations, including new boilers, roofs, classroom technology, landscaping, lighting, pickleball courts and firepits.
"It's always been a beautiful campus, but it looks very Villanova now," Kelly Tuzio, assistant director of Villanova's graduate nursing program, told the Inquirer. Tuzio worked at Cabrini from 2005 to 2011 and was helping ready the Iadarola Center's nursing simulation facilities for the opening.
The campus features renamed buildings with new purposes. Bellesini Hall, formerly Founder's Hall, is now Villanova's third-largest classroom building and home to Table 1842, a new dining concept named for the university's founding year. The 100,000-square-foot Dixon Center offers an indoor pool, basketball courts, a suspended track and a fitness center.
About half the students living on the Cabrini Campus will be allowed to have cars, an option unavailable to sophomores on main campus.
That detail matters for Radnor. Roughly 450 additional student vehicles will be based within the township.
The bigger picture for the community extends well beyond Aug. 24. Villanova President the Rev. Peter M. Donohue said the university plans to grow undergraduate enrollment from approximately 7,000 to 8,000 students over the next four years. That growth started this fall with about 250 additional freshmen. The school admitted just 29% of applicants for the fall 2026 class after applications surged more than 10% over the prior year.
The Cabrini acquisition expands Villanova's footprint by 43%. A planned acquisition of Rosemont College, expected to close in 2028, would add another 58 acres and bring the university's total to 430 acres.
About 75 faculty members, 10% of Villanova's total, will be based at the Cabrini Campus, teaching in psychological and brain sciences, graduate nursing, education and counseling, ethics and select communication courses.
Donohue said the university expects to recover the $170 million investment within four years through campus operations. Move-in begins Wednesday, Aug. 19, with major university events continuing through the weekend.
