The dearth in undergraduate housing at Temple has been a dilemma plaguing students for the past few years. In an attempt to correct that, the University is constructing a brand new undergraduate dormitory slated to open August 2004.
Harriet Goodheart, director of News and Media Relations, said the University is excited about more students living on campus next year.
The new undergraduate dormitory, called University Village, will be located near SEPTA’S Regional Rail Lines bordered by 10th and Montgomery avenues and Cecil B. Moore Avenue.
The complex will house 750 undergraduate students. This is only slightly less than 1300, which houses over a thousand undergraduate students.
University Village will consist of three buildings containing a total of 221 furnished apartments: one four-story building that can house 174 students, one six-story building that can house 488 students, and one-three story building that can house 90 students.
To bring a dormitory atmosphere to University Village, each apartment will have built-in high speed internet access, a multi-purpose room in the four story building, a fitness center, a computer lab, a study room, an outdoor space for recreation, and a student courtyard built in between the three buildings.
The 240,000-square-foot-site formally housed a Temple storage facility, an abandoned bar and a former beer distributor.
Unlike other student dormitories such as 1940 and 1300, a private developer is funding the construction of University Village and not Temple.
“Titan Investments Inc. is funding the project,” Goodhear said.
According to Titan Investments Inc.’s Web site, it is a financial corporation that specializes in turning financial notes – particularly mortgages and trust deed notes -into cash.
Since University Village is being built with the funds of a private developer, it remains unclear whether or not the dormitory will be made available to all classes or just upperclassmen.
“I assume any student will be free to stay there,” Goodheart said due to the fact the project is funded by a private corporation and not Temple.
In addition, Goodheart said that since the number of students wanting on- campus housing increases every year, Temple definitely felt the pressure to build more dormitories because “they just cannot accommodate for the students.”
According to the University’s Web site, between the main, Elkins Park, and Ambler campuses, a total of 5000 students stay in university housing. Sixty-seven percent of those students are new freshmen. Last year, 7500 students paid their housing deposits, and only 5000 students actually got housing.
This past year, Temple accepted over This past year, Temple accepted over 4000 new freshmen, a number that grows annually. Because of this steady growth, dormitories that were originally catered towards upperclassmen, such as 1940 and White Hall, have slowly been converted to freshman dormitories.
For some upperclassmen, the addition of University Village really does them little good.
“For me, it is too little, too late,” said Andrea Patterson, a senior who was forced to get an apartment after she was denied housing last year.
She said it was good Temple is trying to correct the housing shortage problem, but “Temple needs to stop accepting so many people,” she said.
There would be no shortage of housing for students, and there would be no need to refurbish old, deprived buildings and turning them into student dormitories.
Jonathan Vann can be reached at jvann@temple.edu.
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