Graduate Housing Complex ready for students
After just three months, Chelsea Boelens said she and her roommate could not be happier about living in the newly opened Graduate Housing Complex on north campus.
Boelens and Katie Goodwin live in a two-bedroom apartment in the East Building, 510 E. Bellows St., which opened on May 1. The West Building, 410 E. Bellows St., opened on July 17.
“We love it,” Boelens said. “I think the design is really cool. That’s one of the things that attracted me (to live here). It looked nice and obviously location was a huge thing for us.”
Both Boelens and Goodwin are in the Physical Assistant Graduate Program and all of their classes are in the Health Professions Building.
“It is literally like a three minute walk to class,” Boelens said. “It’s nice because you don’t have to worry about driving or parking on campus.”
The housing complex features one, two and four person apartments, with spacious living areas and air-conditioning. Each unit also includes many amenities.
“Beyond the apartment amenities of landline ethernet ports or wireless capabilities in each apartment, washer/dryer in every unit, individual climate controls in each apartment and a full kitchen in each unit—these apartments are within walking distance to all campus buildings,” Nathan Tomson, manager of CMU University Apartments, wrote in an email. “There are even meeting/study rooms on the first floor of each building, public restroom facilities for guests and a fitness center for the residents as well.”
A one-bedroom apartment is $700/month furnished and $665 unfurnished, while a two-bedroom is $480/month per student for a furnished place and $445 for an unfurnished one.
The four-bedroom apartments are $350/month per student for a furnished place and $315 unfurnished.
There are 94 rooms and 164 beds available, and all of them have been assigned for the fall. However, few residents have moved in yet.
The total budget for the project was $28.5 million, and although the entire project is not completed yet, Tomson said he thinks the final budget will come in at the original budget. There is still construction going on to expand the parking lot.
The housing complex's architectural style was designed to fit in with the older buildings on north campus, with the outside of the buildings being similar to Barnard Hall, an old dormitory on campus that was demolished in 1997.
“The windows and roof peaks were some of the most striking features of Barnard Hall, and the design team worked hard to construct grad housing to look similar to Barnard Hall,” Tomson said.
The university is also hoping to get the buildings Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certified. This is the highest certification offered through LEED and would be the first residential housing building certified in the state of Michigan.
Tomson said the grad housing is on track to attain that distinction, but the final word on the certification will not come until later in the fall semester.
Factors that go into this certification include the construction methods, building materials used, appliances used in units, the outside landscaping and lighting inside and outside the building.
