A new student housing complex under construction just one block from Brody Complex has almost reached completion.
The $3.4 million Campus Village, which has drawn protest from many nearby residents, will begin housing students in one of its two buildings in May.
The entire complex, located on Michigan Avenue between Cedar Green Apartments and The Oaks Apartments, will be ready in time for students to move in for fall semester.
The complex is made up of two three-story buildings and can house up to 222 students.
Many of the same amenities featured in recently built Northern Tier complexes will be available, including tanning booths and exercise and game rooms.
"The other places on Abbott Road are four miles away," said Adam Cross, the marketing director for Campus Village Communities, the company building the complex. "We thought there would be a need to have places closer to campus."
Apartments range in price from $495 per person each month for a four-bedroom site to $650 per person each month for a "premium" two-bedroom spot.
"We've got a good response," Cross said. "We're about half-full right now.
"We're just trying to get our name out now."
But some East Lansing residents in surrounding areas are worried that the new complex will bring in more noise and traffic, and that it doesn't contribute to city diversity.
Resident Ken Bialek said he hopes students enjoy the new complex, but cautions that it is not something that will stimulate permanent development in the city.
"We could empty out all of (this neighborhood) and make it rental housing and fill it up, but is that good for East Lansing community schools and diversity?" he asked.
A constant battle that city officials face is how to bring in young families to fill East Lansing schools when many new developments are being tailored to college students.
When a revised Campus Village plan was presented to the city council in September, East Lansing's Central Neighborhood Association presented the results of a survey that asked 300 residents living near the proposed site whether they were in favor of the project.
Eighty-five percent of those surveyed opposed the plan.
In September 2002, the planning commission voted 8-1 against recommending the plan for development to the city council. But, the same proposal went on to the city council a month later and was approved 3-2.
"It was a real slap in the face to community democratic process," Bialek said. "There were zero constituency advocating for the project."
But City Manager Ted Staton said there is an increasing demand for off-campus housing as more students choose to move out of residence halls after their first year.
As new student complexes and developments are established, it's impossible to make all of the residents happy all the time, he said.
"People don't want them up there (in the Northern Tier) because of the traffic," Staton said. "Then, they don't want them here because of the noise."
Jim van Ravensway, East Lansing planning and community development director, said he approved of the development, adding that it's a step in the right direction for student housing.
"Students want to be closer to campus, because that is where the university is and where the entertainment is," he said. "Campus Village makes it the right way and the things up north are the wrong way."
