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UNCP Working
to Add Student Housing for Fall 2003
UNC Pembroke's Board
of Trustees approved Feb. 6 a request for bids from private developers
to construct new on-campus housing for up to 335 students.
The five-unit apartment-style
buildings would be located on 10.8 acres on the north side on campus,
on an area currently used for intramural fields. The estimated cost
of the project is $7 million, and the project must be ready for occupancy
by the fall semester, 2003.
Because enrollment
is expected to rise again next fall and new student housing will not
be ready until 2004, the university has been working with an apartment
developer from Greenville, N.C. to formulate a plan.
Freshman applications
are up 56.3 percent over last year at this time, and acceptances are
up 42.1 percent. The goal is 833 freshmen for fall 2003 compared to
a record 725 last year.
Chancellor Allen
C. Meadors laid out the plan at an emergency telephone meeting of the
board. The UNCP Foundation, Inc., would lease the land from the state,
then sublease it to the private developers who would then sublease the
entire project back to the university to operate and maintain.
"We will save
the $7.7 million for a new residence hall and use the money for another
academic building," Chancellor Meadors said. "If we do not
do this, we may lose 200 or more students next year."
Chancellor Meadors
touted the project for adding new student housing options. The cost
for students (estimated at $3,400 for a nine month lease) would fall
between the cost charged at UNCP's residence halls and the private apartment
project adjacent to campus.
The apartment design
calls for three, double-occupancy rooms per suite with three bathrooms,
a common room and kitchenette per suite.
Another advantage,
Chancellor Meadors said, is a net gain of about 180 additional parking
spaces on campus. He said the intramural fields would be replaced on
otheruniversity land nearby.
The request for
proposals will be carried to the UNC Board of Governors for their approval
and put out for bids in March. The lease with the developers would be
for 30 years at which time ownership of the brick apartments is granted
to the university. The university would be responsible for filling only
216 bids in the first year.
Trustees expressed
some concern over the short time frame and construction quality control,
but Chancellor Meadors said university architects would oversee construction.
The vote was unanimous
in favor of putting out a request for proposals.
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