Laura Hillman enjoys practicing her French horn in the quietness of her University Village apartment.
Now with the planned redevelopment, the music performance graduate student and her husband have to find a new place to live and practice their music.
Hillman said although it is frustrating to move, she's OK with the redevelopment.
"(The buildings are) old, small and uncomfortable," she said. "They're just not that fun to live with."
Hillman said she would probably move to Cherry Lane Apartments because it's closer to campus than Spartan Village.
With 240 apartments in University Village that need to be vacated by May 31, Spartan Village and Cherry Lane Apartments are the next option for displaced residents, said Chuck Gagliano, assistant vice president of Housing and Food Services.
Some residents say the other complexes will work for now, but might not be their long-term home.
"We're moving to Spartan Village until May, and after that, I don't know where we'll go," said Christina Villegas, a University Village resident.
Residents have the choice to stay in University Apartments or move off campus. But University Housing is giving an incentive to those who move into either Spartan Village or Cherry Lane Apartments by providing a moving van and packing supplies.
Villegas said University Housing has been very helpful in the process so far.
"They've made (the move) pretty easy for us," Villegas said.
But some residents said they're not pleased with the redevelopment of their homes.
"The only thing that bothers me is having to relocate," dietetics junior Andie Gonzalez said. "This is barely our first year here. If you are comfortable where you are, it makes it harder."
Gonzalez said distance would be a factor in deciding where to live.
"If they can't move us to Cherry Lane, I might have to move off campus," she said.
The MSU Board of Trustees approved plans to redevelop University Village into a luxury apartment complex for undergraduate students at its October meeting. The area currently rents to mostly graduate and international students and their families.
Some residents said the project isn't fair for students with families.
"There are a lot of families that need homes, too," said Devin Straley, a horse management sophomore and University Village resident. "It's good that they are tearing it down to build something better, but it still should be just for family housing."
In preparation for the redevelopment of University Village, Gagliano said University Housing has been reducing occupancy in the apartments throughout the past six months, since the plan was introduced.
"When we realized (the redevelopment would occur), we didn't make those apartments available," Gagliano said.
Although many University Village residents are likely to move into Spartan Village and Cherry Lane Apartments, he said other students haven't and won't be denied occupancy there.
Gagliano said further improvements to Spartan Village and Cherry Lane apartments aren't going to happen anytime soon.
"We've already renovated about 80 percent of Spartan Village, and we did renovate Cherry Lane several years ago," Gagliano said, adding that any further construction will happen years down the road.
Kristen Daum can be reached at daumkris@msu.edu.
