Upscale Student Housing Community Announces Grand Opening
PR - 5 Jan 2008
... GAINESVILLE, FL - The Woodlands of Gainesville, a brand new student resort community of townhomes and condos, is hosting a Leasing Center Grand Opening celebration on Saturday January 12th from 12 to 5 pm onsite at 1055 SW 62nd Blvd. in Gainesville. Food, drinks and giveaways will be available throughout the event. Students will also be given a final opportunity to receive a $500 check for signing a lease for the 2008-2009 school year.

Designs call for a 10,000 sq. ft. clubhouse offering a state-of-the-art fitness center, resort-style pool area, movie theater, indoor driving range, gathering and study areas, tanning beds, billiards and internet café. The community offers individual leases and is all-inclusive, so utilities are included in the rent. The two, three and four bedroom units are all furnished and start at $555 a bedroom ...

Oshawa may charge student-area landlords up to $1000 annual fee
Mayor says residents want to get rid of all students
Macleans - 5 Jan 2008
... OSHAWA, ON - “Nothing short of getting rid of all students will appease local residents,” John Gray, mayor of Oshawa, said Friday. His city is dealing with town-and-gown conflicts between students and residents that culminated in police raids on student housing this fall and now a proposed new bylaw.

“All three groups are not happy,” Gray said, referring to the situation in the neighbourhoods surrounding the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and Durham College. The area has been the target of a blitz to enforce noise and parking bylaws ...

Absentee voting gets popular as college students vacation
Union Leader - 5 Jan 2008
... DURHAM, NH - College students are allowed to vote where they attend school if they can prove residence. Pitt said it's not unusual to see students using dorm addresses or other campus housing to register. As long as they can prove they are residing there, Pitts said, they are allowed to vote.

The spike this year, Pitt said, is the 719 absentee ballots that were requested, at least 500 of which she estimated were from students. So far, 500 ballots have been returned to the clerk's office, but it's not known how many came from students ...

Iowa Caucus ‘08: The No-Show Kids show up critics
The Wire - 5 Jan 2007
... ANN ARBOR, MI - They called them “elusive,” “unreliable,” and “apathetic.”

They said the only thing college students disliked more than cold weather was politics.

Above all, they said young people wouldn’t show up.

But on Thursday night, as Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee each celebrated their respective Iowa caucus victories, the former built on the promise of change and the latter on the protection of faith, it was young people who had the final say ...

Ohio campus measures legacy of '04 record-length voting lines
News-Journal - 5 Jan 2008
... GAMBIER, OH - College student Ann Shikany couldn't wait to vote for the first time. When she finally got the chance to vote, she waited. And waited.

Shikany stood, sat, ate and napped in line for more than 10 hours in 2004 in this college town, home to the longest voting lines in the country. She finally cast her vote for Democrat John Kerry about 1 a.m. the next day.

Instead of turning her off, the experience galvanized her and others at Kenyon College, a private liberal arts school of 1,600 students. Shikany, 21, is now a senior who has voted in off-year elections since and looks forward to voting again in the 2008 presidential election ...

Claremont: Old citrus town gets new zest from downtown growth
The Chronicle - 5 Jan 2008
... CLAREMONT, CA - Like parts of Palo Alto and Berkeley, Claremont has the feel of an East Coast college town, with palm trees, Arts & Crafts bungalows and Spanish Colonial Revival homes. Although houses have replaced the groves that once dominated Claremont, many yards still boast citrus trees, and the industry's legacy lives on in the new Packing House project, a conversion of a 1922 citrus packing facility into upscale shops and restaurants.

But a modern ad campaign for the town - best known today for its college campuses - would feature more than fruit and a mountain skyline. New to the scene are intriguing shops, trendy restaurants, a boutique hotel and an art museum, all of which have helped create the perfect weekend getaway to drive away winter doldrums. Compared to the Bay Area, parking is a snap - and free - and you can walk to almost all of the attractions ...

Leaders, Residents Oppose Complex
WVIR - 5 Jan 2008
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - County officials won't speculate about what the planning commission may think about the site, but say a steep slope, a stream, and mention traffic make it a tough one to develop.

Hedlund also says other developments in the area haven't always lived up to procedures required to making sure runoff doesn't make it into Moore's Creek, the stream in question.

Dave Norris adds there's another issue: The complex is being looked at as student housing. He would rather see that built within walking distance of the university ...

Historic home condemned
Chapel Hill house could be restored
News & Observer - 4 Jan 2008
... CHAPEL HILL, NC - Now, a storm that knocked two hardwood trees through the house's back wall has put a condemned notice on its front door.
The town of Chapel Hill posted the notice Thursday at 115 Battle Lane after receiving a citizen complaint. The order gives owners Sherman and Kay Richardson the options of demolishing portions of the historic but long-vacant house or rebuilding to correct the damage ...

A crazy idea for this university town
Budgeteer News - 4 Jan 2008
... DULUTH, MN - Why not, in the future, spread out the UMD campus throughout the city? I wonder, though, if such an idea has merit. Perhaps there are some buildings or vacant lots from one end of the city to the other that could be utilized for various programs and expansion opportunities? A suitable vacant building, or use of an existing or pending vacant public school facility might be just the ticket ...

Out of tragedy, cooperation is path to safety
Record - 4 Jan 2008
... EAST STROUDSBURG, NY - More than two-thirds of ESU students live off-campus and many live in poorly maintained housing owned by absentee landlords. Many are "ghettoized" to specific neighborhoods.
Blick notes that some of these apartments don't have working smoke detectors to warn tenants of an igniting fire. That's what happened at a Ridgeway Street residence, shared by a family and three college students, where a recent fire occurred. Fortunately, there were no injuries ...

Fire safety group urges compliance with sprinkler law
Tribune - 4 Jan 2008
... COLUMBIA, MO - According to information sent out in October by Campus Firewatch, 82 percent of 114 campus-related fire fatalities since 2000 have occurred in off-campus housing, and 9 percent have occurred in Greek housing.
Columbia Fire Department Battalion Chief Steve Sapp said the city’s infrastructure won’t support a requirement for sprinklers in all off-campus student housing, such as the East Campus area, where old water mains cannot accommodate sprinkler systems. But sprinklers could be required in the future ...

Mike Ross Loves Mission Hill, Hates Unethical Landlords
Boston Daily - 3 Jan 2008
... BOSTON, MA - Boston City Councilor Mike Ross loves Mission Hill. While the rest of the city may view the neighborhood as a student ghetto, the 36-year-old Ross calls it home. But that doesn’t mean he’s happy with the conditions in his neighborhood. Earlier this week, Councilor Ross announced his proposal to cap the number of students in one apartment to a maximum of four ...

Overcoming vulnerabilities in the local economy
Business Times - 3 Jan 2008
... COLUMBIA, MO - Technology-based economic development” is a term we will hear more and more often next year, not only in Columbia but also in Jefferson City and around the state. The term refers to an approach to economic development that has proven itself time and again in communities similar to Columbia that are home to major research enterprises, have an outstanding quality of life, and are passionate about the issues surrounding growth.

As one example, how can we not admire what West Lafayette and Purdue have accomplished with such a strategy? Several of our community and business leaders visited there recently to check it out. Here is what they found: 146 high-tech companies bringing new dollars to the local economy; all the benefits of having the home offices of those companies located in their communities; $80 million in payroll; and an average wage in those firms of $58,000. More than 50 of those companies originated through business incubators, and the others were attracted to the hive of entrepreneurial activity in their research parks ...

Iowa students feel lodging shortage
To encourage student turnout at caucus, group offers free rooms, gas money
Michigan Daily - 3 Jan 2008
... DES MOINES, IA - After a long night of caucusing today, Grinnell College junior Alec Schierenbeck plans to join nearly 100 fellow student caucus-goers who will be spending the night on Grinnell's campus an hour east of the capital.

Unfortunately for Schierenbeck and his peers, their housing arrangements will be sleeping bags, foam pads and the cold, wooden gym floor of an old Grinnell physical education building.

Many Iowa college students participating in the caucus today face not only the tough decision of choosing a candidate to support, but also must find somewhere to stay tonight, as many colleges have closed their dormitories for winter break ...

Getting the Kids Out to Caucus in Iowa: "It's Not a Mystery"
HuffingtonPost - 3 Jan 2008
... IOWA CITY, IA - It's no easy task to light a fire on the campaign trail when the wind chill doesn't break zero degrees all day -- which it most definitely didn't on Wednesday in Iowa City.

Bone-chilling, soul-numbing Midwest cold or not, John Brophy and Erik Smith had a message to sell here, alongside each of the several candidates who dropped in throughout the day: that young voters will be major players in electoral politics throughout 2008 ...

Smoke alarm plea after three students die in house blaze
The Age - 3 Jan 2008
... FOOTSCRAY, VIC, AU - EMERGENCY services are urging people to install smoke alarms after firefighters failed to find any devices in a Footscray house where three Indian students burned to death yesterday ...

Police said the men ... had been living in Australia for about two years. They were boarding at the Ballarat Road house with friends. Two of the men are believed to have studied hospitality and horticulture.

The family they were living with, a couple and their five-year-old daughter, escaped the blaze by smashing a window along the side of the weatherboard house ...

SC universities offers free classes for people 60 and over
Morning News - 3 Jan 2008
... COLUMBIA, SC - More than 250 people are taking advantage of a little-known South Carolina law that allows anyone age 60 or older to take college classes without paying tuition.

The University of South Carolina has 241 people taking advantage of program, while Clemson University has 16 people using the provision passed in the 1970s, officials at both schools said.

Word of the program has mostly spread by mouth, even though it is printed in the school's catalog, said Harriett Hurt, director of adult student services at USC ...

Zoning change is sought for Depot Street apartments
Messenger - 3 Jan 2008
... ATHENS, OH - The developer of a proposed student housing project in Athens is seeking a zoning change ... requesting that the property off Depot Street be rezoned from manufacturing to R-3 (multi-family) residential. The project would include 18 apartments.

The proposal is to construct a new building with 14 units, comprised of six two-bedroom apartments and eight three-bedroom townhouse apartments. The building would be three stories high. The building that now houses Toscano's restaurant would be converted into four two-bedroom apartments ...

New zoning law would hurt college-town rentals
Mortgage101 - 3 Jan 2008
... USA - Q: We own a four-bedroom, single-family home in a university town, which we rent to students. Our neighbors have been complaining about noise and traffic. There's a movement now afoot to change the zoning laws to provide that a "family" be defined as prohibiting more than two unrelated occupants from living together in a single-family neighborhood. This will make it very hard for us to keep the property (we'll have to drop the rent if we can't rent to more than two unrelated students). Any suggestions? ...

Shop Talk: Student Housing in Harrisburg, Opposition to a New University, and Much, Much More
The Chronicle - 3 Jan 2008
... USA - Housing in Harrisburg: The city of Harrisburg, Pa., is looking for a private developer to design and build student housing, according to The Patriot-News. Up to 350 units of student housing would serve area colleges like Harrisburg University of Science and Technology and Harrisburg Area Community College. The city may dangle tax-exempt bonds to entice developers to participate. The story says city officials hope the housing would help Harrisburg evolve as a higher-education center ...

Plans for a student housing development would be enhanced by a new courthouse
Patriot-News - 3 Jan 2008
... HARRISBURG, PA - Mayor Stephen R. Reed's plan for a student housing develop ment in the midtown builds on both the transformation of that neighborhood and Harrisburg's recent evolution as a higher education hub. Wouldn't a new courthouse a few blocks away be a logical addition to the synergy that started with the rebirth of the downtown?

Reed is seeking investors interested in constructing and owning as many as 350 housing units on three city-owned acres available for lease or sale.

Harrisburg Area Community College recently opened a branch campus at Third and Reily streets that is expected eventually to have 2,500 students. Construction is moving along downtown on the Harrisburg University of Science and Technology's 1,600-student center. And Messiah College has its Harrisburg Institute at Dewberry and Chestnut streets ...

Vision for Elm Street on the table
Express - 2 Jan 2008
... LOCK HAVEN, PA — The 60-block neighborhood includes student housing of every sort, historic homes, small businesses, houses of worship and Ross Library.

It serves as a gateway to the university, downtown Main Street, a commercial section of Bellefonte Avenue and the proposed development at Painter Stadium. It also may become a gateway to river recreation.

The proposed Elm Street Program would offer funding to property owners to accomplish program goals such as fixing up building facades ...

26-story student-housing high rise planned for Ann Arbor
Business Review - 2 Jan 2008
... ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor Business ReviewDevelopers are planning a 26-floor student high rise for South University and South Forest.
Developers are moving ahead early this year on University Village, a much-anticipated 726,000-square-foot student-housing high rise project on the edge of downtown Ann Arbor ...

It would include 524 student apartments with 1,758 beds ...

Students Flock to Caucus, to Dismay of Some Iowans
NY Times - 2 Jan 2008
... DES MOINES, IA — One of the $64,000-questions about Thursday’s Iowa caucuses is how much students from out of state will influence the outcome.

A big argument has been raging here about rules that allow out-of-state students who attend schools in Iowa to vote as long as they are not registered elsewhere. Many Iowans are irritated because they see out-of-staters as hijacking their caucuses, while others see it as a voting rights issue and say that as many people as possible should be encouraged to participate ...

And in 2008 ... Arlington
Star-Telegram - 2 Jan 2008
... ARLINGTON, TX - Arlington will always have a vast, sprawling residential component, but it also needs to encourage other, more dense residential lifestyles. Some of this is occurring on a limited scale. The Glorypark project, for instance, contains mixed-used condominiums and apartments as part of its basic concept. Another mixed-use project is planned in the downtown area

UTA plans a "College Town" complex with offices below and apartment lofts above. Architect Mojy Haddad is building a brownstone-style condo development in north Arlington ...

Proposed Mount Oread hotel worries some in Lawrence
The Oread Inn would be near KU’s football stadium.
Star - 2 Jan 2008
... LAWRENCE, KS - Residents of this college town are particular about what goes on their beloved Mount Oread. This is Kansas, after all, where “mounts” are hard to come by.

Now, talk of putting an upscale hotel on Mount Oread has some worried about the city’s skyline and the preservation of a historic neighborhood at the center of the University of Kansas campus ...

Harrisburg mayor wants student housing hub of up to 350 units
Inquirer - 1 Jan 2008
... HARRISONBURG, PA - "The city of Harrisburg is interested in creating a housing environment for students by offering quality living accommodations that are clean, attractive and student-oriented," Reed said.

The city's redevelopment authority plans to lease or sell three acres of city-controlled land to the chosen developer. The project could include as many as 350 units, Reed said. Proposals are due March 24 ...

Tower of polarity : Downtown crane has become a source of frustration to some
Northwest Arkansas Times - 1 Jan 2008
... FAYETTEVILLE, AR - She represents the promise of Fayetteville, that there will have to be some destruction during the evolution of the quaint college town into an anchor in one of the country's fastest-growing metro areas. But she also speaks to the fear and distrust felt by those who are protective of the community they love ...

Mobilizing an army of voters
Press-Citizen - 1 Jan 2008
... IOWA CITY, IA - Nakhasi said his group opposed the 21 ordinance because it wouldn't solve the problem of underage and binge drinking and may have led to bigger worries.

"We believe there would have been an increase in sexual assaults, violent crimes, DUIs (Driving Under the Influence), and other offenses due to the less-monitored environments of house parties, which would have greatly increased in number, had this ordinance passed," he said.

Nakhasi and friends, especially Pfaltzgraf, worked to get out the student vote ...

SiteMeter