A massive incoming class, a residence hall scheduled for demolition, and a replacement dorm still under construction are the reasons University of Iowa officials want to lease an apartment building to help house some students.
The university agreed to lease a brand-new apartment complex under under construction at 229 S. Dubuque St., pending the state Board of Regents’ approval at Wednesday’s meeting in Ames. At the regents’ meeting on Wednesday, UI Business Manager David Kieft proposed the lease to the regents.
“We’re going to work with our local landlord community like we’ve done in the past,” he said.
Kieft said the UI needed additional housing for students because officials are anticipating an increase in enrollment next year. Quadrangle, home to 358 students, is slated to be demolished this summer to make way for the new UI pharmacy building, and the new Madison Street residence hall, which will house 1,049 students, will not open until the fall of 2017.
The lease will extend for one year, August 2016 to July 2017. Any students wanting to stay another year will have to sign leases with the landlord. By the fall of 2017, the UI will have enough space for students with the new residence hall.
RELATED: UI Housing to face serious crunch next year
The UI will pay $951,036 to rent the building for a year. Kieft said this will cover Internet access and maintenance and upkeep of common areas such as study rooms and lounges.
The building will house 116 returning students — no first-year students will be able to occupy the apartments — with 20 one-bedroom units, which will house two people, and 27 two-bedroom units, which will house three people.
Although the regents have not approved the lease yet, the UI has held a lottery to select the students who will live in the apartments.
UI Assistant Vice President for Student Life, Von Stange, the director of Housing & Dining, said the university has struggled to provide enough housing since 2010, but the new residence hall should be able to meet the need.
“We’ve had increasing first-year enrollment, and so we’re trying to get returning students in apartments so first-year students can have a more traditional residence-hall space,” Stange said.
UI freshman Stephanie Peterson, who will live in the Dubuque Street apartments in a two-bedroom unit next year, said she and her roommates did not get a spot in one of the other UI apartments, and they were planning on living in the dorms again before these apartments became available.