This year, more than ever, students and parents are feeling the pinch as a growing number of students seek on-campus housing.
This year’s freshman class included nearly 1,400 new students, capping three years of expanding enrollment. The increase represents a victory for the university as it tries to keep up with enrollment requirements set by the California State University system, but it also means potential headaches for students who need places to live.
“In the last four years, because of increased demand, on-campus housing has been an issue and that’s why we’re building more. Having adequate on-campus housing is critical in attracting students to HSU,” said John Capaccio, director of Housing.
The College Creek housing complex, which includes nearly 100 apartments designed to house 430 students, is funded through system-wide Revenue Bonds and comes with a $48 million price tag. The space also includes an all-season soccer field and a 15,000 square foot community center that will serve as a social hub for the south end of campus.
Work began in Nov. 2008 with the building closest to L.K. Wood Boulevard and has been moving clockwise around the job site, where the final building, the community center, is receiving its initial framing.
“On some of the buildings the lath is on the outside and it’s ready to be plastered. Then all the way around to College Walk, the last building is just in the final stages of being framed. The community center has some steel, and is just beginning to get the wood framing,” said Richard Carlson, associate director of Housing.
Sacramento’s Brown Construction is on schedule to have the project, designed by architectural firm RSK Associates, ready for occupancy by fall 2010.
Each room comes with amenities students have come to expect in college housing: Ethernet and wireless internet access, complete kitchen units with ranges, refrigerators and dishwashers and, of course, plenty of laundry facilities.
The complex’s location has resulted in the loss of some on-campus parking. Capaccio explains that locating the apartments on the southern end of campus was necessary to take advantage of the limited flat ground on campus. But it’s the location that offers a bonus to students by putting them closer to Arcata’s downtown, making it easier to get around on foot and bicycle, hopefully reducing the overall number of cars traveling to campus.
In 2010, the Redwood Manor Apartments, located next to the Mai Kai Parking Lot, are expected to come down, freeing up space for additional parking.
For more information, visit: www.humboldt.edu/housing/collegecreek/