Binghamton University students who choose to live off campus in the next few years will have additional housing opportunities.
One of the new housing developments planned for Downtown, 20 Hawley St., has released its prices for leases starting August 2011. The prices per month range from $750 for a five-bedroom, five-bathroom suite to $850 for a single bedroom and bathroom suite. Security deposits for 20 Hawley St. are due Dec. 31.
College Suites, a project from the same firm that built University Plaza, will be built on Washington Street, next to the University Downtown Center. It will have 200 suites and house 392 students.
Recent developments, however, have resulted in a delay in Newman Development Group’s College Suites, and it will not meet the original opening date of August 2011.
‘The project schedule was always considered flexible, given that the project involved the redevelopment and consolidation of several urban sites, and several complicated issues including tenant relocations, building demolition and site preparation in sensitive areas,’ said Jeffrey R. Smetana, vice president of the Newman Development Group.
The delay is due partly to complications in relocating Berger’s Ski Shop, one of the former businesses on the site.
‘Moving the last tenant, Berger’s Ski Shop, to a new location in Downtown was more drawn out than we had hoped and delayed the demolition of the final building,’ Smetana said.√†’ We expect to take down the Berger’s building within a few weeks, continue our site preparation work and start building construction in the spring.√†Construction will be completed the following summer for an August 2012 opening.’
College Suites will provide a flat-screen television, a washer-dryer unit, heating, air conditioning, cable TV, Internet and Wi-Fi service in each suite.
It will also include a fitness center, a caf√É©, a game room and a gated parking lot.
According to Smetana, rent at the Newman Housing will be consistent with that of University Plaza.
‘We have continued to refine the project plans to make sure that College Suites is on par with the best student housing properties in the country,’ Smetana said.√†’Modifications have included adding more two-bedroom units, the single efficiency units, incorporating state-of-the-art systems for security and energy efficiency and utilizing innovative building materials for a greener and more sustainable building.’
This additional student housing will be making off-campus living an attractive option for students who currently live on campus and were already considering moving off.
Greg Komar, a junior majoring in English, moved out of College-in-the-Woods after the spring 2010 semester. He thinks this relocation was very much justified.
‘Living off campus seemed like the natural thing to do as a student,’ Komar said. ‘I was just under the assumption that the norm for most students involved two years of dorming and two years of off-campus living as a [preparation] for post-college life.’
Komar’s complaints about on-campus housing were poor dining hall food and rooming with a stranger.
‘I don’t think Binghamton should encourage students to stay on campus, personally,’ Komar said. ‘I think it’s healthy to encourage students to begin moving off campus as they become upperclassmen and are forced to start thinking about things such as living situations after college.’