Schools

UM-Dearborn Set to Open New Student Housing Complex Sept. 1.

A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on Aug. 21 for the 231,000 square foot housing project. Apartment lease applications are currently being accepted.

A new housing development at the University of Michigan-Dearborn will serve to provide resident students with a "total campus community" when they return for the fall semester.

UM-Dearborn's $30 million, 231,000 square foot housing complex, located directly across Evergreen Road from the university campus, will provide apartments for roughly 500 students. It is being constructed by Urban Campus Communities, and is set to open Sept. 1.

"This project gives us a chance to market the university to a larger body of students," Stanley Henderson, UM-Dearborn vice chancellor for enrollment management and student life, told Patch.com during a recent tour of the facility.

"The project fulfills (the university's) mission to provide near-campus housing for its students so it can compete with colleges that offer on-campus housing," he said.

The four-story building includes 521 beds, and a variety of housing options, including one bedroom, one bathroom apartment-style dorms; two bedroom, one bathroom dorms; and two bedroom, two bathroom dorms. In addition, each living space is fully furnished, including a full size bed, under bed chest, desk, sofa, love seat, coffee table and bar stools. Dorm rooms also are equipped with a flat screen HDTV.

"Our goal is to make students as comfortable as possible when they come to the university," Henderson said. "These dorms are not like the typical rooms you see at most major colleges."

As part of the project, the university is leasing approximately 13,000 square feet to offer an expanded student engagement space next to the student housing complex. Known as "The Victor's Den," the space will include meeting rooms, a performance stage, university offices, eight additional apartments, a lounge area, and group study rooms.

"We don't want students to feel that they have to have an apartment lease to use the Victor's Den. We envision this area to be a place where students can mingle, relax and study together," Henderson said.

To connect the apartments to the UM-Dearborn campus, a walkway will eventually be constructed over Evergreen Road. In the interim, a stoplight will be installed so students can cross. There is also plans to provide residential parking, and the university’s shuttle will make a stop at the housing development to transport students to campus.

Henderson said the project is the first time UM-Dearborn will offer student housing since the 1970s, and so far roughly 80 percent of the dorm units have been leased for the fall semester.

Larry Winokur, manager of Urban Campus Communities, told the Detroit Free Press that the company has already leases from students in Georgia, Minnesota, Italy and India.

Leases will last for eight months, with the buildings closed for the summer semester. However, the university may keep student housing open year-round if there is demand.

A ribbon cutting and grand opening celebration for the public is tentatively scheduled for Aug. 21.

For more information, or to apply for student housing, visit http://www.umd.umich.edu/housing.


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