MSU’s Residential and Hospitality Services is looking for MSU Board of Trustees’ approval this summer to begin construction on a replacement for the Spartan Village Apartments, to be constructed on the corner of Kalamazoo Street and Harrison Road .
The inception for the new development came in 2008, when RHS decided Spartan Village Apartments needed to be closed because it had “exceeded their life expectancy and had become very expensive to maintain and repair,” according to RHS’s website.
The plan for replacement housing was cemented in 2013, when the MSU Board of Trustees granted RHS authorization to begin developing designs and strategies for a new student family housing complex to replace Spartan Village.
RHS is currently working in tandem with SHW Group and Encore Architects to evaluate the feasibility of such a project and to create designs for sustainable residences.
The new student family housing project will be built with an eco-friendly approach and will model recent Brody Neighborhood renovations, said Kathy Collins, the director of Residence Education and Housing Services.
“We’re looking at using mostly sustainable materials and we want to implement a lot of windows like at Brody, so the design will be more energy efficient,” Collins said, adding the construction would not affect tuition costs whatsoever.
The planned student family housing will include 1,200 beds on site with townhouses, studios and office space, and will accommodate undergraduates, graduate students, international students and families.
“We’re really focusing on fostering a community feeling at the new development,” Collins said. “With families and students living there we want everyone to feel welcome just like at Spartan Village.”
Tentatively, there will be green space for children to play outside, gathering areas, a marketplace, an MSU-run Starbucks on site and a community garden that will act as a way for residents to interact and add to a sense of sustainability.
Collins spoke at a recent Council of Graduate Students meeting and reinforced the idea that this project will not raise tuition, and is being paid for by RHS, which is an auxiliary of MSU.
While the aging housing is still in livable conditions, some residents are happy it will be replaced.
“If I have to compare with other parts of the country where I’ve been, here is less than where I was,” Spartan Village Apartments resident Seguibyam Joachim Kientga said.
Other residents appreciate the Spartan Village's somewhat secluded location, which has served as a refuge from the bustle of campus life.
“The apartment I live in is in good condition, and I haven’t had any problems in it,” physics junior Andrea Roraback said. “There are one or two things that it would be nice if they changed, but it’s nothing major. I think they should keep Spartan Village open. It has a good location and the apartments are nice.”
Staff reporters Patrick Bade and Alyssa Smith contributed to this article.
