Bikes, play structures and bus stops used to dot the areas between sycamore trees and brick apartments. Now, a few rusted bikes jut into the sidewalks, which will disappear when the bulldozers and wrecking balls arrive at University Village on May 16.

After 53 years, new apartments will replace the two-story brick buildings that thousands of married, international and graduate students called home. Four-bedroom apartments aimed at upper-class undergraduate students will replace them.

Residents of University Village must leave their apartments by May 15. But after the news of the demolition spread last fall, most scattered in December.

As of April 7, 69 of the 456 apartments were occupied.

Though Jun Young Park had always planned to return to his native South Korea this spring, the quickly emptying apartments have affected him and his family. Park came to MSU through the Visiting International Professional Program to study English for two years. He said living in University Village provided his family with a sense of community, as they befriended other Korean families.

Park enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere, but now "it is too quiet."

Park's friend, Won-Pyo Hong and his wife and children, moved out of University Village in February to Cherry Lane Apartments, another University Apartments complex, after learning of the demolition plans. Now they visit University Village and the Park family.

It was hard to leave the apartments after two years, said Hong, who is an education graduate student.

"It was our first home in the states, so it's a very special place to me," he said.

Home sweet home

Before the rust formed on the awnings and the cement started to crumble, University Village was buzzing with 1950s style. It was a neighborhood. Photographs from University Archives and Historical Collections show it boasted clean white lines and inset shelves on the inside and slick railings and trim on the outside.

Construction for the apartments began in 1953 and continued through 1955. The complex was originally set up as temporary housing for the growing number of student families after World War II.

Students scrambled to get on the waiting list for married housing in the 1960s. There were 2,000 children living in Spartan Village, Cherry Lane and University Village in 1963, according to a 1963 State News article. Only couples with at least one child could live in a two-bedroom apartment. The rent was $90 per month for a two-bedroom apartment and $84 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.

Current student residents pay $541-581 for a one-bedroom apartment and $599-644 for a two-bedroom apartment. The cost of the apartments replacing University Village is not definite yet, but Chuck Gagliano, assistant vice president for Housing & Food Services, said it will be competitive with other apartment complexes.

Over the years, University Village retained its reputation as low-cost, family-friendly apartments.

With graduate school and medical school to pay for, Jeff and Marcie Libra were grateful for the affordable housing University Village provided. They lived there from 1982 to 1984.

The Libras started with a one-bedroom apartment, but moved to a two-bedroom after Marcie Libra became pregnant.

"It wasn't much to look at," Jeff Libra said. "It looks much nicer now than it did back then."

Despite the tiled floors, old Venetian blinds and close quarters, the Libras said University Village served them well. They now live in Grand Rapids, where he is a family practitioner and she is a teacher.

"They weren't nice apartments, but the price was right," Marcie Libra said. "I thought of it as affordable housing, and when there were problems, maintenance was there. Plus it was good memories because my first baby was born there.

"It saved money, and we could make it our own," Marcie Libra said.

What really made their experience at University Village unique was the diversity, Marcie Libra said.

"I liked the diversity because I came from a very small town that was very white, lower to middle class and not a lot of diversity, and I felt like I grew up in a bubble," Marcie Libra said. "Being in University Village changed all that. It was very diverse, and it offered a whole new insight on life. The smells alone — being in an apartment, you'd smell every other person's cooking."

Breaking ground

Since the demolition plans were finalized, some remaining students have an entire building to themselves. Cars are sparse and scattered throughout the complex.

The lack of people has made American studies graduate student Amanda Tigner uneasy. She is the only resident left in her building.

"I get scared when I'm alone at night," Tigner said.

Tigner said she always loved living in University Village because of its atmosphere and location. Last week, she sat at a picnic table and graded papers in the nice weather.

Tigner said she is upset the university is replacing a piece of its history with a new development. She said she does not see a need for more undergraduate housing. She wishes new buildings would be built for University Village's demographic — international and graduate students and those with families.

"How much (does the university) care about the graduate students and undergraduates with families?" Tigner said. "Perhaps not so much."

Recently, Tigner saw a child running to the play structure, only to discover it had been removed, she said. He ran home in tears.

Gagliano said University Village needed to be knocked down whether or not it was being replaced.

"There was no refurbishing that could be done," Gagliano said. "They had to come down."

He said, both from a safety and construction standpoint, the apartments were no longer suitable to house residents.

Marketing to undergraduates, Gagliano added, allows the university to be more accommodating to students and competitive with surrounding housing.

"We've tried to meet everyone halfway or more," Gagliano said. "I'm sure we didn't please 100 percent of the people, but I'm sure we came pretty close."

The new development will hold 304 bedrooms, a clubhouse and green space. At a total cost of $6.5 million, it will consist of individually leased four-bedroom apartments. It will open in the fall of 2007.

"It's always sad to see an era leave, but for me personally, I'll be glad to see some new structures," said Karen Corley, associate director of University Housing. "Floor plans just weren't conducive to modern day."

University Village residents must trek through the master bedroom to get to a second bedroom or bathroom — a layout reminiscent of the 1950s. It is undesirable to many 21st century renters despite its uniqueness, Corley said.

Corley's job was to ensure that University Housing officials helped as much as possible as residents moved out.

Since October, Corley has contacted every resident. She keeps in touch with remaining residents through e-mails and letters.

Residents learned of the apartments' fate in July and August via letters. A town meeting in October addressed initial questions and concerns.

Most of the complaints the Department of Housing & Food Services received were about being uninformed of the destruction plans before leases were signed, Corley said. To alleviate some of the stress, University Housing offered free moving truck services to people going to other university-owned residencies. Since the buildings are being knocked down, University Village residents did not have to clean when they moved out.

"I haven't gotten any complaints about us not meeting their needs with the move," Corley said. "It turned out to be a positive event for everybody — didn't cost anything besides a little time to pack."

MSU Board of Trustees Chairman David Porteous said the decision to knock down University Village was necessary and will help MSU in the long run.

"They lasted beyond (their) useful life, and we really needed to look, not just at short-term fixes, but really at what was important long-term to the campus community and also to the neighborhood community," Porteous said.

Catering to students' changing needs and desires for housing is important, too, he said.

"The university spent a great deal of time looking at living situations that would provide another option for our students, which is important, both to give them choices as well as to be competitive as a recruiting tool, whether it's undergraduate or graduate students, to our campus," he said.

University officials initiated the project and informed the Board of Trustees of the plans in September. After they were notified of the project's scope, it was up to the board members to choose a contractor and designer for the development.

In October, the board chose the Lansing-based Christman Co. to do the construction and Neumann/Smith & Associates to design the new apartments.

The plans also required approval from the state. When universities spend more than $1 million on a project, the plans must be approved by the Joint Capital Outlay Committee. With this, the state law also requires that universities include a use and finance statement. In March, discrepancies with other universities not honoring the state law generated concern that the project at MSU would be put on hold.

Gagliano said the issue has been ironed out.

"The university had done what it was supposed to do, but the state wanted it done in a different way," Gagliano said.

Moving out

Unfazed by the demolition plans, Sarah McCaskey and her 2-year-old daughter, Zoe, are sticking out a few more weeks in their one-bedroom apartment.

Jars of baby food fill the bottom shelf in the living room. Zoe wobbles to the door, curiously poking her head into cubbies and shelves. McCaskey said she looks forward to the day she and her daughter move out.

"It's not the best atmosphere for a crawling 2-year-old," the dietetics junior said.

McCaskey came to University Village out of "necessity." She needed a place that was affordable and close to campus.

As her moving date approaches, the changes at University Village grow more apparent to McCaskey. She awoke one morning to the rumbling of refrigerators and stoves being dragged out of empty apartments.

"They're really itching to take it down," she said.

McCaskey said she noticed asphalt maintenance has been neglected and Dumpsters were taken away.

"I'm not the biggest fan of University Village," she said. "It got a lot worse when they decided to knock it down. It really feels like they let it go to the dumps."

To prepare for the construction, Gagliano said these initial actions had to occur. Existing asbestos will also be addressed, and electricity and water will be turned off and capped, he said.

Sarah and Zoe McCaskey are moving to Burcham Woods apartments in a few weeks. University Village sufficed, but McCaskey is ready to leave.

Park will start shipping belongings to his home in South Korea next week. Boxes stacked in the living room stand sandwiched between the couch and television.

Although he will miss University Village, Park said he is also ready to leave.

"We feel very lonely now," he said. "We don't have any neighbors to get in touch with. It's time to go."

If they were not being torn down, Hong said he would stay at University Village. He was lured there by the open space between buildings he said Spartan Village and Cherry Lane lack.

Most important to him were the bonds he formed with the other Korean families that lived there. From teas to weekend barbecues to playing sports with the kids, the families stuck together.

"It's kind of like the deconstruction of a big family," Hong said.

Being an international student is not easy, he added. Talking about problems with other international students has helped him adjust to American culture, Hong said.

"We can share any kind of good news and bad news," he said. "Everyone I know loved to live in University Village."

Kathleen Polesnak can be reached at polesna1@msu.edu.