FreeTown and the Apartments North of UL

[NewsCopy]

Stephen Klee says hurricanes Katrina and Rita may have caused a rental crunch in Lafayette, but it’s not the storms that led him here. A couple of months before the hurricanes, Klee’s Atlanta-based company, The Medallion Group, identified Lafayette’s student housing market as underserved. In mid-May, the company will begin construction on Campus Edge Apartments, a student-housing complex near the intersection of North Bertrand Drive and Eraste Landry Road. The Medallion Group has the 10.3-acre tract under contract, with the total project cost — including land — estimated at $18 million. Several aspects of the 168-apartment development will set apart Campus Edge from University House at Lafayette, its only privately owned competitor just down the street on Bertrand. “Each [Campus Edge] bedroom has its own bath. The Lafayette market is really lacking in that type of product,” says Klee, noting that student-housing surveys list this as a No. 1 priority. Campus Edge will offer two, three and four-bedroom units. Klee will also compete with UL Lafayette’s 2-year-old Legacy Park, which has 215 apartments with one, two or three bedrooms. While each Legacy Park bedroom does have its own bath, Klee maintains the rooms are smaller and only offer twin beds. “We’ll be providing full-size beds in our units,” he says. Campus Edge’s rents, which include utilities like cable, Internet, water and electricity, will start at $439 per bedroom for a four-bedroom unit — the most efficiently priced. The clubhouse and a temporary sales office will open next spring, with all units ready by fall 2007. Other complimentary amenities at the complex include a swimming pool and fitness center, computer lab, an Internet café, movie theater, tanning beds, a carwash and a free shuttle service to campus. The source of the story IND

[CutOff_Cajun]

____, wish they'd have this before my graduation semester.

[CDeb]

Have any of the students here lived in Legacy Park? What are your thoughts on the place? How much does it cost?

I lived in Stokes Hall for two years and I imagine that LP is ten times better.

[oddtbone]

Have any of the students here lived in Legacy Park? What are your thoughts on the place? How much does it cost?

I lived in Stokes Hall for two years and I imagine that LP is ten times better.

while much nicer than the other facilities on campus, it's not even close to worth the rent. bedrooms are really small, tons of issues with water overflowing. my brother and myself were the first to l rent the place we stayed at, so some of the issues might have been a result of breaking it in, but i would rather have stayed at an off campus apartment for less $$.

[RaginCajun77]

I stayed at University Courtyards now University House and let me just say it sucked. We had water overflow problems from the washer. The carpets were horrible. The walls and ceilings were paper thin.

[shasta]

well i didnt stay in any of the student housing units but i did work for the housing maintenance department for my last 3 years there and we worked through the beginnings of LP and into at least the first year or so and I can say from a construction standpoint, LP is ____, it was built way too quickly and way too cheap, one of the buildings had flooding problems the first time it rained and the ones on the street by girard park will have some serious foundation issues within the next few years due to the slope and no retention of the surrounding soil, had serious maintenance issues within the first year with cheap products on the interior, cabinets, microwaves, etc were already beginning to break, but that is just my take on it from having to be the one going fix things

[CDeb]

but i would rather have stayed at an off campus apartment for less $$.

Is a meal plan included with rent at LP?

What about utilities? Is an off-campus place still cheaper after utilities?

Thanks for your responses. I am genuinely curious. Stokes had just been renovated before I moved in and it still sucked. I can only imagine what it was like before.

[shasta]

yea cdeb, stokes is a hole, im pretty sure its next on the list to be shut down and eventually demolished, i think they will be closing down both denbo and bancroft soon if they havent already done so, they plan on demolishing both of those in the next few years, basically i think they are trying to move to the apartment thing, only dorms they wont get rid of are the really old ones, like harris and maybe bonin, but as far as LP, yes it is the nicest thing on campus amenities wise. I think everything is included, meal plan, all utilities, high speed internet and cable, for somewhere in the area of 700 a month, but you may want to check on those prices because they may have changed since they opened, not a bad deal but i dunno how they do the room situation, i think the way it was, the lower payment option did not include a private room, so for the lower amount youd be crammed in there with somebody else, but still better than being in stokes, with the pigeons in the bathroom vents, also the computer science department is giving fourth floor conference center back to housing after they move so may have rooms there too soon, dunno how long that will take but you probably will not be there

[CDeb]

dunno how long that will take but you probably will not be there

LOL! I've attended my last class at UL, so I'm not concerned with myself.

[shasta]

my bad, thought you were askin cause you wanted to go, lol, yea i thought i had taken my last class too but i may be returing for an M.A.

[NewsCopy]

A 142-unit apartment complex that would cater to University of Louisiana students is drawing the ire of some in Lafayette's historic Freetown neighborhood. Capstone Development Corp. has requested preliminary plat approval to build Capstone Quarters, a 142-unit apartment complex on Stewart Street, off Taft and Vermilion streets. The property, zoned light industrial, is about 11 blocks from the UL campus. The Planning Commission delayed a decision on the request last week and will take up the matter again at 5 p.m. Monday. A decision was delayed so the commission can consult a Freetown neighborhood plan developed by the Lafayette In a Century committee, said Rebekka Raines of the Planning, Zoning and Codes department. Istvan Berkeley, a UL professor who lives near the proposed apartments on East Vermilion Street, said the quiet, historic neighborhood where children ride their bikes in the street will be flooded with college students racing through the neighborhood, drinking and playing loud music if the apartments are built. Berkeley's home, built in 1938, is one of the newest in the historic neighborhood, where "free men of color" settled, he said. Lafayette attorney Glenn Armentor said he, too, is concerned that bringing 350 to 500 college students to the outskirts of Freetown will change the character and culture of the neighborhood, which has sustained for more than 100 years. An effort is under way to have Freetown designated as a national historic neighborhood, Armentor said. "The Freetown community was the precursor to there being no Klan and no Knights of the White Camellia in Lafayette," said Armentor, who collected an oral history of the neighborhood. "Blacks got along with whites after the free men of color in Freetown stood up to the Klan, and there were battles, and people died." The rest of the story Claire Taylor ctaylor@theadvertiser.com

[cajunstudent]

Have any of the students here lived in Legacy Park? What are your thoughts on the place? How much does it cost?

I lived in Stokes Hall for two years and I imagine that LP is ten times better.

i live in legacy and it is not that great for waht u pay!!!! i can't wait till this new complex goes up b/c i will be there fast!!!