New city housing to ease crisis for students
Kevin Robillard
Issue date: 12/5/07 Section: News
There are 1,000 beds for students on Route 1 - all of them in the University View. But if three recent building proposals come off, that number could more than triple.
Between the 2,600 beds developers have already proposed building this semester and five other potential student-housing projects in early stages, developers seem to be betting that the need for student housing won't dry up anytime soon and that the private sector - not the university - will fill the demand.
"[Developers] are banking on the fact that they're gonna get their housing done before the university starts their process," said David Daddio, a former city council candidate who writes a blog about development issues in the city, Rethink College Park.
And with so much student housing going up, some say the extra supply could keep rents down for students in the coming years.
There are many factors playing into the sudden rush toward student housing. The biggest of these is the lack of housing for students on the campus, a recent downturn in the market for other types of housing, like condo and what some call the sluggish pace the university is moving ahead with its own housing plans.
As many as 1,000 sophomores could be denied housing from the university next year and the school has a more than 1,600-person wait-list for housing, according to Doug Duncan, the university's vice president for administrative affairs.
But the number of students looking for housing is likely far higher than the number on the university's wait-list, observers say.
"Everyone sort of recognizes the shortage of housing," said Mark Vogel, who is building one of the three proposals that have come before the council this year.
Recent turmoil in the housing market nation-wide has also made student housing a more attractive option.
"There's really been a crash in the condo market," Daddio said, "Developers might be saying 'Well, we're not going to make a killing on condos.'"
Between the 2,600 beds developers have already proposed building this semester and five other potential student-housing projects in early stages, developers seem to be betting that the need for student housing won't dry up anytime soon and that the private sector - not the university - will fill the demand.
"[Developers] are banking on the fact that they're gonna get their housing done before the university starts their process," said David Daddio, a former city council candidate who writes a blog about development issues in the city, Rethink College Park.
And with so much student housing going up, some say the extra supply could keep rents down for students in the coming years.
There are many factors playing into the sudden rush toward student housing. The biggest of these is the lack of housing for students on the campus, a recent downturn in the market for other types of housing, like condo and what some call the sluggish pace the university is moving ahead with its own housing plans.
As many as 1,000 sophomores could be denied housing from the university next year and the school has a more than 1,600-person wait-list for housing, according to Doug Duncan, the university's vice president for administrative affairs.
But the number of students looking for housing is likely far higher than the number on the university's wait-list, observers say.
"Everyone sort of recognizes the shortage of housing," said Mark Vogel, who is building one of the three proposals that have come before the council this year.
Recent turmoil in the housing market nation-wide has also made student housing a more attractive option.
"There's really been a crash in the condo market," Daddio said, "Developers might be saying 'Well, we're not going to make a killing on condos.'"
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