From parking lot to public housing
By Fritz Klug
News Editor
Two parking lots between South Kohrman Hall and Knollwood Avenue will soon be the first residential buildings to be erected on Western Michigan University’s campus since the 1960s.
Jo Wei Looi/Western Herald | Western Michigan University campus parking lots 36 and 90 are future sites for new on-campus apartment complex.
The $12.5 million construction project is set to break ground in April 2010, with four buildings containing 336 beds in 138 units, according to Steve Palmer, director of Residence Life. They are expected to be completed in July 2011.
“We want something new and exciting for upper class students,” Palmer said.
The goal of the project is to offer on campus apartments that compete with off-campus options, but that also have the feel of a 100-year-old academic institution, said David Dakin, director of campus planning.
Each unit will feature a large central living space, a kitchen with a garbage disposal and dishwasher, washer and dryer units as well as central air conditioning, Palmer said. Res Life will also offer apartments that are already furnished.
Unlike current university housing, residents will have to pay their own electrical bill.
There will be one, two, three and four bedroom apartments available, tentatively priced from $675 for a one bedroom unit to $370 a month for a four bedroom.
Each bedroom will be a minimum of 125 square feet.
The plans were developed by Grand Rapids based Design Plus, and were inspired by Vandercook Hall on east campus, according to lead architect Jack DeBruin.
In their current design, the buildings could receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification at 40 points, DeBruin added.
The announcement comes at a time when Palmer says there are over 100 students a year who are put on a waiting list to move into campus apartments. WMU currently has three complexes that were built in the 1950s and 1960s.
Those apartments were designed for the times, Dakin said. Students who come to WMU now have grown up with different expectations for housing, expectations that Dakin hopes these buildings will meet.
Such expectations come down to what each unit is named.
“We’re not going to label them ‘a, b, c,’ or ‘1, 2, 3,’” Dakin said. “[Giving each building a name] will help make it feel like you live in a real residential area.”
Student Input
Over the past two weeks, Palmer and Dakin have met with the Residence Hall Association and Western Student Association to get student input on the project.
Dakin said he hopes their feedback can solidify specifics like the number of bathrooms per unit and pricing.
One of the concerns raised is how the complex will impact the number of parking spots available on campus. Dakin said that students who are living in the apartments will exchange their commuter spot with a resident’s spot.
Dakin added that some students may have to disperse to other lots across campus.
Funding
The $12.5 million project will be paid for by construction loans and tax-exempt bonds, with rent paying off that debt over the years, according to Lowell Rinker, WMU vice president for business and finance.
Since ResLife is an auxiliary enterprise, no university money from tuition or state appropriations will be used for the project.
While this is a time where many companies and individuals are in no place to start building, Rinker said the university is secure in taking out such a loan.
Dakin added that it is the best time to build, since many construction companies are cutting overhead to work on projects.
The new apartments are the first phase of the university’s 2008 master housing plan.
Phase II will extend Knollwood Avenue west to run parallel with Howard Avenue and add two more apartment buildings. The time frame for phase two depends on the success of the first four buildings.
There are also plans to build new complexes behind Hoejke and Bigelow Halls.
When everything is complete, Dakin said, the new complexes will add 3,000 more beds on campus.
“The overall goal,” Palmer said, “Is to tear down all the old on campus apartments and have the new buildings replace them.”
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Posted by heraldstaff
on Feb 4 2010. Filed under Breaking, News.
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I don’t think having a one bedroom priced at 675 a month will be anywhere near what completive pricing is.
David is right. There are plenty of apartments near western that are much more affordable than $675 for a 1 bedroom. Even $370 in a 4 bedroom isn’t competitive…
Instead of replicating East Campus’ Vandercook Hall on West Campus, how about just retrofitting the original Vandercook Hall?
I for one am tired of seeing WMU compete with the private sector. WMU has the distinct advantage of not having to pay property taxes. The private sector is struggling in the current economy with the excess of apartments. This is hurting many of the neighborhoods.
I think that the pricing of the apartments is outrageous and is not even close to competitive! The fact that they are also changing the on-campus apartments price from including utilities to not being inclusive is also another mark against them and does not give them a competitive edge.
It is gratifying to see that at least some folk at WMU may be coming to appreciate the fact that the feel and appearance of a 100-year-old academic institution has some value. Too bad they settle for the faux feel and appearance when they could utilize the real thing. There is a certain irony to note that the Design Plus people were inspired by Vandercook on East Campus. Could have a little more “inspiration” resulted in a plan to turn the still standing, idle, and deteriorating original Vandercook into upper class student apartments with the same amenities planned for the new buildings. I’m sure there are plenty of reasons why building new buildings always trumps the innovative reuse of existing buidings, but it would be interesting to see what a bias toward preservation and reuse could produce.
Here’s a novel idea, WMU: How about re-using the buildings you already have?
It seems to me that the goal to: “…tear down all the old on-campus apartments and have the new buildings replace them” is about as unsustainable and wasteful a practice as any that exist today.
Hmmm. What’s the vacant property inventory at WMU? I’ll bet there are hundreds of thousands of square feet that could be reused or adapted for a new use.
By the way — today’s landfill waste is composed of 30+% wasted building materials. Why would you want to add to that?
The REAL VanderCook Hall on Oakland Drive is, I believe, sitting mostly empty, and is a very cool building that was built to last. Plus, it’s part of the East Campus National Register historic district. Re-use it and make it a demonstration site for WMU’s new sustainability campaign!
Noble Lodge, at Oakland & Howard, is now another site that awaits a new life. Like VanderCook, it was built of quality materials, and with today’s available technology for adapting old buildings for new uses; the possibilities, are frankly — almost endless.
Advice — get some architects and engineers on board that actually have some expertise in adapting old buildings. And when you do, I hope you’re looking at the rest of the E. Campus NR Historic District as well — it’s priceless, irreplaceable and gives WMU’s historic home an authenticity and character that you can’t get ANYWHERE else.
P.S. Putting the Archives way out at the edge of sprawl-ville is also a bad idea. Very bad.
It’s about dang time WMU starts to build new housing for students ON campus. Part of the reason for rising costs is so many students living off campus because of old/outdated/unremodeled/unmodern dorms/residence halls/apartments. Get with the times this is one of the better directions for Western to go in in a LONG time. No if they can only see past their nose and get rid of black as accent school color and bring back the real logo of the school, not the stylized Denver Brono’s logo we presently have. This was the only bad decision made by President Haenicke prior to his retirement back in the late 1990′s.