Franklin County-based Ottawa University plans to open a second residential campus — complete with an athletics program — in Arizona, the university announced Friday.

Ottawa University Arizona will launch this fall in Surprise, Ariz., where officials held a dedication ceremony Friday.

The university has taken over an existing 27,000-square-foot building as its academic and administrative hub, said David Barnes, executive director of university advancement for Ottawa University Arizona. Leaders hope to break ground on two new buildings in the coming month, a residence hall and a training and administrative facility for outdoor sports.

The construction cost for Phase I is about $20 million, Barnes said.

Ottawa University Arizona hopes to have the new facilities ready when students arrive in August, he said. If a backup plan is needed, the university has talked with local hotels to temporarily house students and with a nearby high school to use its athletics facilities. Future expansion plans include a three-court gymnasium, expected to be built in 2018.

The university facilities are located in the city of Surprise’s 250-acre civic center and recreation campus, so it’s already surrounded with amenities, he said.

The new campus’ enrollment goals far exceed the size of its Kansas residential campus. The Ottawa campus has about 700 students, Barnes said.

Ottawa University Arizona aims to enroll 250 students for its first semester of classes at the new campus, and have 3,000 residential students in 10 years, according to the university’s announcement.

The school will offer multiple undergraduate and graduate degrees and 19 varsity men’s and women’s sports teams. The school aims to obtain National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) designation, which would make it one of only four NAIA programs in Arizona. Teams will be called the Spirit, and their mascot is a gray wolf.

Surprise has a population of more than 120,000, according to the city’s website. The city touts its focus on health and education, and its recreation scene, which includes the spring training facilities for the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers.

The opening of Ottawa University Arizona there will make Surprise “a university town” and bring the first intercollegiate athletic programs to that part of the Phoenix metro area, according to the university’s announcement.

“The Phoenix area is really underserved with not-for-profit private colleges. Out here there are very few,” Barnes said. “For thousands of young people — particularly those that want to continue and play a sport — there’s few choices, and so many of them have to go out of state.”

Ottawa University is a private, nonprofit Christian university founded in Ottawa in 1865. In addition to its Ottawa residential campus, it has adult learning campuses in Kansas, Arizona, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Ottawa University has offered adult learning in Arizona since 1977. It has offered adult courses in Surprise, which will continue, for the past eight years.

“Ottawa University has expanded strategically during the last 151 years, and we are poised for significant growth and exceptional student outcomes here in Surprise,” Ottawa University President Kevin Eichner said in a statement.