Jennifer Webb and Kierra Tandy knew they wanted to move out of their Butterfield Hall room.
The MSU students had lived on campus for two years and wanted to be out on their own.
To end their stay on campus, the two quickly signed a lease after Christmas break for an apartment at Capstone Commons, 2501 Abbott Road.
They join the thousands of students moving farther from campus, filling a growing number of student-dominated complexes being built around the city. The growth of student housing stock has traditional renters worried, upgrading their properties.
Offering brand new furniture, a Clubhouse with pool tables, table soccer and the chance to mingle with other residents, the new properties have been popular with students.
Especially Tandy and Webb, who looked at other apartments, but decided on Capstone Commons.
But the new apartments may have become a problem for landlords who can’t find students to live in their houses or older apartment complexes closer to campus.
Construction of Capstone Commons was completed in 1999.
The Crossing Place Student Apartments, 3636 E. Coleman Road, and Melrose Communities, 16789 Chandler Road, were quick on their heels to begin construction.
Melrose communities leasing coordinator Ann Siegrist said the new apartments offer better options for students willing to live farther from the university, she said.
“It is really what the resident thinks is more important to them,” she said, “whether they want to be closer to campus or have extra amenities.”
The two new apartment complexes, both of which are located outside of East Lansing’s city limits, began looking for tenants in 2001.
As the two students toured an apartment at Capstone Commons, Webb and Tandy agreed they made the right decision.
The roommates had looked at Dover’s Crossing, 3029 Beau Jardin Drive in Lansing, and a couple other complexes in the area before coming to Capstone Commons.
Both were beginning to envision where they would put their beds, television and kitchen table.
“We have got so many plans, we have already started finding pictures off the Internet we are going to blow up to poster size,” Webb said.
The two roommates will decorate their new apartment using art from black artists, mostly pieces that involve showing love or other emotions, she said. They also smiled at the thought of spending summer days by the pool or lounging in the Clubhouse.
“We wanted something that was more spacious,” Tandy, a business pre-law sophomore said. “Something with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a washer and dryer.”
Despite the increased distance from their daily classes, the two were happy to be leaving campus.
“Its not far, it took us five minutes to get here, and we have been staying on campus for two years,” Webb, a medical technician sophomore said. “It was a real quick decision.”
The new apartment is a chance for them to break away from cafeteria food, a community bathroom and mentors.
“We wanted to get out, and you need that kind of adventure,” Webb said. “It also seems like a real quiet area.”
But the newer, quieter area could spell hard times for landlords with older properties that cannot compete with clubhouses and new furniture.
East Lansing’s director of housing code enforcement and neighborhood conservation, Howard Asch, said there are problems emerging.
“I have heard some concerns expressed that it is going to impact some of the older apartment complexes in the city,” he said. “They are planning on competing with what goes on in the other properties.”
To keep up with the new complexes, older properties have been doing some renovations.
Shiny chrome sinks with lightly tables will replace older amenities.
But those upgrades can come at a costly price.
DTN Management Co. owns between 35 and 40 student apartment complexes.
In more than a year, the realty company has spent $3 million updating its properties, said Colin Cronin, DTN’s director of student properties.
Replacement kitchens, bathrooms and appliances have been a major part of the updating process.
“Structurally the buildings are fine, it is just putting in new stuff the kids want, the stuff kids want to see,” Cronin said.
New washers and dryers, ovens and bathrooms in each bedroom can make a difference for students looking to rent.
But the new properties can still put a cramp on the market for even the most-established rental companies such as DTN, he said.
“There is competition, whether it is going up outside of the city or it is going inside,” he said. “Every time someone remodels a house in downtown East Lansing that is competition.”
Meanwhile that same competition is working to let students know more space will be available.
Melrose Communities offers 306 apartments. The complex has three buildings completed and a finished clubhouse.
There are plans for a fourth building to meet completion, possibly in the spring, and the open buildings should be close to full by the fall, leasing coordinator Ann Siegrist said.
Leases at Melrose Communities begin at $408 depending on number of bedrooms and furnishings.
DTN Management Co.’s Cedar Village, 303 Bogue St., offers rooms starting up at $616.
Capstone Commons has 254 apartments with leases beginning at $375, also depending on whether there are furnishings and the number of bedrooms.
“We build a lot of apartment complexes that have those types of amenities,” said Jimmy Shaw, senior project manager for Capstone Properties , which owns of Capstone Commons.
The company manages 19 other locations - all outside of East Lansing.
Since the opening of the East Lansing location in 1999, every apartment has had a tenant, Rob Howlind, president of Capstone Properties, said.
Having newer and more luxurious perks in oak counter tops and soft couches in tan or green, the apartments have managed to grab up much of the housing market in East Lansing, Howlind said.
“You use those amenities to your best advantage,” he said.
And East Lansing residents who don’t care for living next to students should be happy with the locations of the complexes, Howlind said.
“We overcome that by housing all of the students in one area and they don’t impact the area,” he said.
Some say that’s exactly why the new apartment complexes were built. Former East Lansing Housing Commissioner, Marilyn Fine, said she thinks the apartment complexes are being used to drive much of the student population out of the city, she said.
“The city is creating a vicious circle just so they can drive students out to there because they don’t want them,” Fine said. “If I was a landlord, I would be frightened of them.”
By passing millage for city projects like the Hannah Community Center, property taxes have put major damage on a student’s pocket book, she said.
“If they continue to drive up the millage rates we will drive up our rental rates,” Fine said. “It is going to affect the students that are here.”
But Gary Murphy, East Lansing’s finance director, said property taxes have not been a death toll for landlords.
“If it were true, there would be more homes to rent,” he said. “If landlords can’t get students to rent then no one would be living in them.”
Despite property taxes, which have been a heated issue in the city, some landlords are struggling to keep their rent as low as possible.
Landlord and vice chairman of the Planning Commission, Fred Bauries, was at first worried about the new properties coming in, but has since decided they haven’t hurt the market.
The rent of his homes have stayed the same despite the slowing economy and high property taxes, Bauries said.
“I can tell you, I was kind of holding my breath not knowing what those extra beds would do, but frankly, we analyzed our records and our properties leased quicker than previous years,” he said.
But other landlords may still have fears of losing student tenants.
The real effect the new properties have on the student market probably won’t be felt for another year, said Annette Irwin, operations administrator for the code enforcement department.
“I haven’t heard anything concrete, everybody has been asking some of the landlords in town,” she said. “I don’t know if we have a good sense yet.”
Any impact that is felt on the market will probably be with the complexes that were built in the 1960s and 1970s, she said.
“We may have a better idea next year, probably an even greater impact the following year,” Irwin said.
Other landlords remain confident that location will turn students their way when signing leases.
Landlord Jeff Hudgins manages several houses and smaller apartment complexes in East Lansing.
“I will take my location all day long,” he said. “Where would you rather be, downtown or five miles from campus?”
Hudgins said amenities are just the complexes’ way of trying to compensate for locations, which force many students to drive or use public transportation to get to campus.
“I’ll make no bones about it, it is more expensive to live close to Grand River (Avenue), but add up what you got in parking tickets and the price of fuel,” he said.
And city officials say older properties still have location over the new complexes for now.
While small complexes always are a possibility, five-story apartment complexes won’t be rising into the sky anytime soon, City Manager Ted Staton said.
“We approved Capstone three years ago, that was the last large track of land appropriately zoned for student housing,” he said. “What is pushing the demand for new apartments will push pressure on landlords to make their buildings more modern and up to date.”
