As students eagerly stuff suitcases full of their belongings in preparation for their first few days as college students, the transition period often is marked with equal parts excitement and anxiety.
After living in the dorms for two years, I couldn’t wait to get out. Having my own room, a living room and a kitchen to cook my own meals in sounded like a dream come true.
A project to tear down a gas station and replace it with an apartment complex, along with one of two parking ordinances meant to help alleviate parking downtown, were approved during the Planning Commission’s bi-weekly meeting at City Hall, 410 Abbot Road.
Changes are on the horizon for a segmented part of downtown East Lansing, where several developers have proposed to build apartment complexes, hotels and other mixed-use buildings.
The East Lansing Planning Commission weighed in on whether to demolish a gas station to build a new apartment complex and whether to build a bar on the first floor of The Residences, 300 Grove St. during public hearings at Wednesday’s meeting.
Students and community members will have their chance to speak out regarding a proposed apartment complex on Michigan Avenue and a new restaurant that will be located in The Residences, 300 Grove St., during Wednesday’s upcoming East Lansing Planning Commission meeting.
Changes are coming to Chandler Crossings, both in the form of management and new apartment renovations. The Woodlark Companies, Westpac Campus Communities and Torchlight Investors purchased Chandler Crossings from Long Wharf Real Estate Partners LLC in a multi-million dollar acquisition that was executed Jan. 31.
Students are embracing a new ordinance requiring landlords to provide new tenants with voter registration information passed at Tuesday’s regular city council meeting, a move questioned by some landlords. The ordinance is aimed at helping students — who might be moving from on campus to off campus, or from house to house — register to vote, or how to re-register with the change of address.
This fall, MSU College of Law students, such as second-year law student Lee Schuchart, are helping hundreds of Lansing-area tenants keep their homes.
For predental freshman Alex Durkin, living with a resident assistant wasn’t the way he envisioned his start to college, but it was the reality.
After a bill passed in late March allowing male and female students to live in the same rooms together, the “trial period,” is off to a slow start with fewer than 10 students taking advantage of the 80 spots available this fall.
Because of a high number of nonconforming student rental properties in East Lansing designated for single families, the city staff is working on plans during the next four months to possibly alter the zoning in these areas to find a balance between student-rental housing and owner-occupied housing.
Amanda Wenzel thought she had her housing situation for the 2012-13 school year figured out last fall. Wenzel, a special education sophomore, planned to live on campus with a friend started to fall apart in February when her future roommate backed out of their housing contract, and she’s tried to piece together her living situation ever since.
As both an MSU graduate student and a community liaison, Erin Carter is particularly excited about the new Off-Campus Housing Listing site, which MSU had up and running late last week.
Construction work continues at a nearby development project on the site of Eastwood Towne Center, with officials hopeful that the new attraction will draw in MSU students.
On Monday evening, members of Campus Living Services and Residence Life held a town hall meeting for students in light of recent concerns regarding resident mentors being assigned roommates next year, although they said the policy is unlikely to change.
Students might pay about $300 more for on-campus housing next academic year if the Board of Trustees approves a 4 percent increase in housing and dining rates next Friday. The Division of Residential and Hospitality Services, or RHS, presented the proposed increase, which would raise housing rates from $8,154 to $8,476 for the 2012-13 academic year, during a Residence Halls Association, or RHA, meeting on Wednesday.
This is one of the major times of the year when people search for new housing space in East Lansing. Because there is no MSU Housing Fair this spring, it is especially important to remind readers of East Lansing’s civil rights ordinance that protects against discrimination in housing, public accommodations, services and employment.
After more than a year’s effort, the Residence Halls Association, or RHA, passed a bill Wednesday night setting up flexible housing for fall 2012, a year earlier than previously planned. The new flexible housing option, which will allow some on-campus residents to live with members of the opposite sex, is expected to be implemented as a pilot program in some suite-style rooms in West McDonel and North Wonders halls, said Kathy Collins, Director of Campus Living Services and Residence Life.
The former site of a downtown bar continues to undergo drastic renovations as construction continues for a mixed-use building officials hope will attract MSU students and young professionals.