Half full or half empty?
Avi Ehrlich
Issue date: 9/12/07 Section: News
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Unlike other student housing, the building is not owned by University Enterprises, but is instead leased on a 15-year term and administered by Allen & O'Hara, an outside property management company, which handles property management for over 70 student housing units across the country.
"We didn't build them, we didn't spend any money in capital construction," said Matt Altier, executive director of University Enterprises, Inc., the non-profit organization responsible for managing the school's business enterprises. "I asked if (the owner) would be interested in master leasing the entire complex to us so I could turn it into student housing, and he agreed to that."
Altier described the arrangement as a good example of a public-private partnership.
While only 100 of the 450 available beds are occupied, Altier said he is optimistic about renting out the remaining rooms.
"The construction took longer than anticipated," Altier said. "We didn't get (the building) until a week before school started, so it was very slow at first. We couldn't even show people the building, only pictures... since it's opened, the interest has just been phenomenal. We are getting a lot of parents and students
calling us and coming over. We think that with word-of-mouth, we're going to fill them up over the semester."
Jason Borges, community manager for the Upper Eastside Lofts, said the surplus of available beds has caused the building to be opened up to students from other local colleges, though it is still designed specifically to serve students from Sac State.
"It would have to be higher education students," Borges said.
He said the building and lofts would never be open to high school students.
"It won't be everyone, but a lot of (Sacramento) City students eventually matriculate to Sac State," Borges said.
He said there is presently only one Sacramento City student living in the lofts.
"It will always be predominantly for Sac State students, so if we get to a point where, a year from now, we can fill all the beds with Sac State students, we will do that," Borges said.
He said the policy of accepting non-Sac State students could change at a moment's notice.
"They hired us as the management company, so of course any decision they make…that's how we will progress," Borges said.
Though the building is off-campus, it is still patrolled every hour by University Police, who have jurisdiction and first-response over the housing unit. A private security company is also on site every night from 9 p.m. until sunrise.
Although resident safety seems to be important to everyone involved, there have been concerns that the resident assistants hired by Allen & O'Hara, might not be receiving the same training as those employed directly by Sac State and trained in the Housing and Residential Life program.
This lack of training is said to be spreading to sensitive areas, such as how an RA should deal with sexual assault.
"Our RAs on campus get two-weeks training and then weekly training because there is a lot of stuff to learn," said Jessica Heskin of the Women's Resource Center, who is involved in the training of Sac State's RAs.
"Over this semester, they will be training their RAs in CSUS's policies, working to tighten things up," said Cynthia Cockrill, director of Housing and Residential.
"I think they will be (the same as on-site RAs) by next year…we're working with them to develop a joint handbook."
In addition to providing training for Allen & O'Hara's staff on Sac State's policies and programs, Cockrill said the outside company brings a lot for Sac State to both learn from and emulate.
The new building offers a hybrid of traditional dorm-style housing with the open floor plans and amenities of a loft. These amenities include a complete kitchen, flat-screen TV and a washer, which is typically used by two to four people.
"They weren't initially designed as student housing units, but as urban loft apartments with balconies and big open spaces inside," Altier said. "It's not as private as an apartment complex, but you do have the amenities of living in an apartment complex, so it's a real nice mix between standard dorms and off-campus apartments."
This luxury doesn't come cheap, with prices ranging from $499 per month for a single room, shared by four people, to $969 per month for a single occupant, including utilities.
Located at 65th Street and Folsom Boulevard, the 10,000-square-foot property includes space for up to 450 student beds plus retail space on the bottom-floor.
Avi Ehrlich can be reached at aehrlich@statehornet.com.
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