Image courtesy of William Rawn Associates

Tufts University will develop a new on-campus residence hall across from the new MBTA’s Green Line Extension station in Medford for its first on-campus dorm project in nearly two decades.

The Boston Avenue project would include 398 apartment-style units for juniors and seniors and retail space catering to MBTA commuters.

“Our objective is to create an inviting place on campus, not just for our students, but also for our neighbors who may be catching a train into Boston and for our visitors who may be seeing Tufts for the first time,” Executive Director of Government and Community Relations Rocco DiRico said in a statement.

Designed by William Rawn Assoc. of Boston, the project is scheduled for completion in fall 2025.

Tufts raised $250 million in a 2021 bond offering to pay for the project, along with renovations of academic and research facilities and carbon reduction projects.

Medford and Somerville officials have pressed Tufts to build more dorm space and reduce demand for off-campus housing in apartments. In 2019, the Medford City Council submitted a home rule petition asking the state legislature to require that Tufts and other nonprofits submit institutional master plans on their real estate strategies, similar to a requirement in Boston.

The legislature took no action. The Massachusetts law known as the Dover Amendment typically overrides communities’ zoning authority over educational institutions.

Tufts also housed 100 first-year students at the Hyatt Place hotel in Medford Square during the past year, the Tufts Daily student newspaper reported.

Tufts recently submitted applications to the Medford Community Development Board to renovate two houses at 50 Winthrop St. and 2-4 Capen St. for student housing.

The Winthrop Street structure would be demolished to add a 21-bed residence totaling 6,810 square feet, while the Capen Street residence would be replaced with a 29-bed residence totaling 8,265 square feet.

The Boston Avenue project follows this spring’s completion of the nearby Joyce Cummings Center at 177 College Ave. The 148,000-square-foot interdisciplinary learning center was funded partially by the Cummings Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Woburn-based Cummings Properties.

The MBTA announced Thursday that the Medford spur of the Green Line Extension will begin operations on Dec. 12, including the new Medford/Tufts station at the corner of Boston and College avenues.