Tour lays bare the truth behind historic renovations
News - 5 Apr 2008
... DURHAM, NC - Trinity Park is holding a tour of homes next weekend, but it's not your typical tour of homes.

Rather than showing off houses at their company best, this "hard-hat" tour is supposed to show just what you're getting into if you decide to restore a historic domicile.

"The idea was to open up the homes while they are in progress," said Alice Bumgarner of Dacian Avenue, a past president of the Trinity Park Neighborhood Association. "To show what it takes to put these old houses back together."

The tour includes some of the infamous "party houses" that Duke University bought in 2006 and has resold for owner-occupants.
"We wanted to highlight that," said tour organizer Donna Dagavarian of Lamond Avenue. "Put a positive spin on things that are going on between Duke and the neighborhood." ...

Wis. House Fire Near UW-Stout Kills 3 Students
TransWorldNews - 5 Apr 2008
... MENOMONIE, WI — A house fire near a University of Wisconsin campus killed three students who never made it out of their bedrooms early Saturday, even though neighbors said they heard alarms going off.

Rescuers found two women and a man in second-floor bedrooms near the University of Wisconsin-Stout, and they were pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said.

The smoke detectors were working, and neighbors called police when they heard the alarms, said Menomonie Police Chief Dennis Beety. Police don't know why the three victims didn't wake up and leave.

[More information on off-campus house fires]

Firm aims to auction as many as 60 units in Urbana condo sale
News-Gazette - 5 Apr 2008
... URBANA, IL – At least 10 and as many as 60 condominiums at Capstone Quarters will be auctioned off April 19 as the developer of the Urbana condominium complex seeks to scale back sales operations there.

Capstone Companies has sold 148 of the 208 units at the complex at 1901 N. Lincoln Ave., but still has 60 unsold, officials said.

The company wants to concentrate on managing the development, rather than selling units ...

Student housing firm's record scrutinized
Campus Crest's past troubles downplayed
Press & Sun-Bulletin - 5 Apr 2008
VESTAL / BINHAMTON, NY - Residents' complaints about delayed construction and stories about unpaid contractors have some Bunn Hill Road residents worried about the track record of a development group proposing an 11-building complex targeted at Binghamton University students.

But officials from Campus Crest -- the group proposing the 192-unit complex on Bunn Hill Road -- say those problems have been resolved. Officials say they want to provide safe, quality housing for students ...

Coming Sunday: Apartment complexes spend big to lure college students
Coloradoan - 5 Apr 2008
... FORT COLLINS, CO - When it came to looking for a place to live in the fall, Roni Palty had a short but specific list.

“It had to have a dishwasher, air conditioning and take pets,” said the 21-year-old Colorado State University student who starts vet school in the fall.Those three requirements, along with several other perks, were the reason Palty signed her lease with Brookview Apartments, 1717 Welch St., on Thursday.

College students require more from their off-campus housing, and apartment complexes are pumping money into properties to be as up-to-date as possible in the competitive Fort Collins market ...

Business is Booming in Downtown Ithaca Video
WSYR - 4 Apr 2008
... ITHACA, NY - While upstate cities struggle to bring in new construction and businesses, one Central New York community is booming.

Ithaca has seen $100 million in development over the last few years. And this week another project is moving forward ...

Wisconsin Film Fest Runs Through Weekend
Festival Celebrates 10th Year
WISC - 4 Apr 2008
... MADISON, WI -- Movie lovers looking for something to do this weekend will have an opportunity to check out many accomplished films playing in downtown Madison as part of the Wisconsin Film Festival.

This is the Wisconsin Film Festival's 10th year, and more than 200 films will be shown at several venues around downtown Madison from April 3-6.

The incredible variety of offerings -- from American independent, world cinema, narrative, documentary, shorts, experimental and restored classics -- and topics should be able to satisfy nearly any adventurous movie fan looking for unique films that are off the beaten path ...

For Film Fest fans, so many movies, so little time
Capital Times - 4 Apr 2008
... MADISON, WI -Amy Johnson is a film festival junkie with tickets to 16 shows over four days.

"I like movies," Johnson shrugged, standing in the Orpheum Theatre on Thursday night for the opening of the Wisconsin Film Festival, where she was buying a festival sweatshirt. She opened her day planner, which was jam-packed with movie titles, times and venues ...

Director John Putch bringing 'Bachelorman' to film festival
Oxford Press - 4 Apr 2008
... OXFORD, OH - John Putch may be engrossed in post-production for his latest comedy flick, "Route 30" and directing new episodes of NBC sitcom "Scrubs," but he is excited to be heading to Oxford for next week's Oxford International Film Festival.

"People who really want to see a movie, who seek them out, go to film festivals," he said, speaking to the atmosphere of film festivals like OIFF. He described film festivals as a place for fans and filmmakers alike to share their passion for flicks more unique and substantive than the typical Hollywood fare.

"I think film festivals are where you actually see real movies because you're not going to see them in the K-Marts and Wal-Marts of the pre-packaged television and movie world and that's why festivals are great," said Putch, whose mother, Jean Stapleton, starred in the '70s sitcom "All in the Family." ...

Students build cardboard village to spotlight plight of homeless
Originally published April 04, 2008

By Marge Neal
News-Post Staff

Students build cardboard village to spotlight plight of homeless
NewsPost - 4 Apr 2008
... EMMITSBURG, MD - Bright orange flames leapt from a 55-gallon drum and a crowd huddled around it, hungry for warmth on a cold, early spring night. They stood with hands in pockets and necks hunched inside jackets, a meager attempt to ward off the chill wind.

Nearby, squat cardboard shelters dotted the landscape, creating a community of sorts for people without a real home.

But these cardboard homes weren't under an overpass in a big city or hidden in a secluded stretch of woods beside a highway; they were perched on the academic quad at Mount St. Mary's University.

To bring attention to the plight of the homeless, about 60 students slept overnight Wednesday in the boxes as part of Habitat International's Act! Speak! Build! Week ...

Bus feasibility work group nixed
Oxford Press - 4 Apr 2008
... Oxford, OH - A proposed public transportation work group stalled in front of Oxford City Council on Tuesday, April 1, but may be back on the table within two weeks ...

Council members voted 5-2 against the resolution to officially form the group, with only Mayor Prue Dana and councilor Doug Ross voting in favor of it.

"When I first became a member of this council I was told to dream," Ross said. "I don't see the big deal with dreaming about alternative forms of transportation." ...

playing house
Yale Daily News
... NEW HAVEN, CT - Yale is more invested in its residential-college system now than ever before: Its development will be a defining part of University President Richard Levin’s legacy. But the recent improvements are not cheap. The renovations have cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and if the University proceeds with the building of two new colleges, their cost is projected to reach at least $600 million.

Despite the primacy of the colleges, in 2006, 22 percent of Yale juniors and 33 percent of Yale seniors opted to ditch those cushy joints and move off campus.

And a lot of them moved to the Elmhurst.

The Elmhurst is an easy building to find: It’s the giant block across from Rudy’s with a bunch of trash in front. It’s also easy to get into, since almost everyone in the neighborhood knows the building code (“You might as well make that code the article’s title,” one student told me when I interviewed him for this story.) ...

Rental homes near campuses prove successful property market
The News - 4 Apr 2008
... MURRAY, KY - Tyler Powell, senior from Erin, Tenn., decided to move off campus two and a half years ago with some of his friends.

"The people who I originally decided to room with decided we wanted a little more space and something with a bit of a yard that was still close to campus," Powell said. "We went to a real estate agent and told him what we were looking for and about what price. He showed us a few places and we found our house."

Powell is just one of many students who have decided to live off campus. According to Yahoo News, enrollments at public universities are increasing as children of baby-boomers graduate college. Many university housing plans simply cannot keep up ...

'Universities and cities can help each other'
Daily Star - 4 Apr 2008
... BEIRUT, LEBANON - A leading US expert on urban universities and their interaction with their neighborhoods highlighted the two-way rewards of having universities engage more actively with their host communities, during a lecture at the American University of Beirut on Wednesday.

Omar Blaik, the former director of facilities and planning at the University of Pennsylvania and the president and CEO of U3 Ventures, a land-use consultancy for universities, spoke at a lecture entitled "Urban Anchors, Models of Engagement." The lecture was organized by the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) ...

COVER- Failure's brink: How MLK snatched success in Charlottesville
The Hook - 3 Apr 2008
... CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA - Forty-five years ago last month, a young preacher and activist named Martin Luther King Jr. came to Charlottesville to speak at the University of Virginia. He and his hosts-- a professor and his wife and an engineering undergrad-- decided on a late-night stroll. It was a pleasant spring evening, and after sightseeing and making their way over the Lawn, they headed back across a little road behind Newcomb Hall toward the motel on Emmet Street where King was staying.

In 1963, an interracial group was something of an anomaly in Charlottesville, even on University Grounds. Having grown up in the South, the foursome knew that just being together could be viewed with suspicion, and King's notoriety didn't help ...

Apartments Begin to Rise
The Breeze - 3 Apr 2008
... HARRISONBURG, VA - Contractors began work on the new Shoppes and Residences March 24, at 865 East near the intersection of Devon Lane and Port Republic Road. This seven-story high-rise will be the first of its kind in Harrisonburg.

The official groundbreaking ceremony is set for April 16. Clearing and excavating work has already started on the property in order to prepare for the building to begin.

The building will provide luxurious, upscale, student housing on the top five floors, about 16,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, and a large walk-out basement ...

Respecting tradition: Oxford student housing project
RegenerateLive - 3 Apr 2008
... OXFORD, UK - Old meets new with McLennan Architects' design on conservation site

McLennan Architects has been given the go ahead for a student housing project in an Oxford conservation area.

The local architect has been granted planning permission for a 102-room housing scheme for client Exeter College on Iffley Road in east Oxford.

It will share the site, known as Exeter House having been purchased by the college back in the 1950s, with two early Victorian neo-classical villas, an Edwardian semi detached house, a Victorian chapel and a school building dating from the early 1800’s ...

The 46th Ann Arbor Film Festival in Words and Pictures
Cinematical - 3 Apr 2008
... ANN ARBOR, MI - Overall, the fest did an amazing job on its limited funding of both putting on a great show for film fans and taking care of festival guests. From the transportation coordinator, Rick Cronn, who tirelessly shuttled folks to and fro, to the intimate dinner parties for fest guests where much stimulating discussion about the fest's slate ensued over meals and drinks, to the always-stocked Green Room which flowed with snacks and beverages, it was great to see that the Ann Arbor film fest is not just surviving, but thriving.

Cinema figure wants new role
Sturtz likes idea of public contact.
Tribune - 3 Apr 2008
... COLUMBIA, MO - Thirteen years ago, Sturtz and his girlfriend and their 2-year-old son, Zola, decided to pack up their 1982 Honda Civic and move to the Midwest from Portland, Ore., filled with dreams of raising their son in a wholesome environment and a grandiose vision of Sturtz pursuing a degree that would lead him to a career researching for a large newspaper’s investigative team.

They toured the region, scouting college towns: Iowa City, Iowa; Madison, Wis.; Bloomington, Ind.; and Champaign-Urbana, Ill. Running out of money, the couple picked up a Midwest Living magazine that had a story about bike trails in Columbia and pictures of the scenic cliffs near Rocheport. They were intrigued enough to check it out ...

Boulder, then and now: Don't bury us under stereotypes just yet
Daily Camera - 3 Apr 2008
... BOULDER, CO - Perhaps we should be flattered when the august New York Times Magazine portrays the city in what is clearly (well, mostly) meant to be a flattering light. It's not, thank goodness, about pink poodles or a murdered child beauty queen.

In Sunday's edition, Boulder gets page upon page of iconic, beautiful photographs and text under the headline, "Twenty-Five Square Miles Surrounded by Reality," that old cliché ...

Taking another look at student housing issue

Landlords, residents around campus attend public open house to provide input
DurhamRegion - 3 Apr 2008
... OSHAWA, ON - North Oshawa homeowner Karl Neubauer wonders when the public meetings, consultations and planning proposals surrounding the issue of student housing will ever end.

"We just finished one process and that was quite a fight. Now we're at it again," he said, referring to an outcry by local residents about the influx of students to their neighbourhoods ...

Did Schoolkids close because it refused to adapt?
Do the evolution
Independent Weekly - 2 Apr 2008
... CHAPEL HILL, NC - If you talk music landmarks in Chapel Hill, Schoolkids Records challenges only Cat's Cradle for the top spot. Since 1974, Schoolkids has supplied the college town with records, cassettes and CDs, but, last week, the storefront was empty and the stock was boxed away in a Raleigh warehouse. As he dismantled shelves, manager Ric Culross put it best when he put it simply: "It's a very sad store right now." ...

Two UVM students to receive city award
Free Press - 2 Apr 2008
... BURLINGTON, VT - As University of Vermont Student-Neighbor Liaisons, the Colleens are charged with brokering positive relations between the permanent and college residents. For their work, they are being honored tonight at the eighth annual Neighborhood Night of Success sponsored by Burlington's Center for Community and Neighborhoods. They are two of several honorees being recognized for work in their communities ...

Thursday market expected to draw many for food, fun
Orion - 2 Apr 2008
... CHICO - CA - Citrus, lettuce and flowers will fill Broadway Street as Thursday Night Market returns this week.

About 8,000 to 10,000 people show up each week from 6 to 9 p.m. for the market, said Becky Watner, assistant executive director for the Downtown Chico Business Association. The market, located on Broadway Street between Second and Fifth streets, features about 40 different producers, 100 commercial vendors and various performers each week until Sept. 25 ...

USC Holds Bike Festival
Free Times - 2 Apr 2008
... COLUMBIA, SC - While Columbia isn’t exactly bicycle friendly along the lines of other college towns such as Austin, Texas, and Boulder, Colo., USC is doing its best to help spur progress with its annual Bike Festival, held on campus March 26-27.

The two-day event featured a talk by Harry Wray, a Depaul University professor who teaches a course on bicycling and politics; free minor repairs on bicycles by Columbia bike shops; and a cross-campus bike tour ...

Plans for mixed-use development in the works
Stadium parking lot could be home to residential, retail space
Chronicle - 2 Apr 2008
... SALT LAKE CITY, UT - Students might be able to step off of TRAX at Rice-Eccles Stadium to a new multi-use development of retail stores, restaurants, offices and university housing, if plans for the "Universe Project," part of the U's Campus Master Plan, move forward ...

Staff Editorial: Community architecture
Our view: City council must stop alienating students to make College Park a desirable place to live.
Diamondback - 2 Apr 2008
... COLLEGE PARK, MD - "Small communities grow through great harmony, great ones fall to pieces through discord" - Sallust

City Councilwoman Stephanie Stullich's move to increase the penalties for noise violations in the city is yet another measure representative of the city's short-sighted approach to improving the lives of College Park residents.

For the most part, the needs and wants of students and residents are aligned. We all want to live in a safe town in close proximity to the university and other institutions in the area; but in the instances where the goals of residents and students are in opposition, the city has a history of disenfranchising students. The city has repeatedly treated students as if they were second-class citizens by holding special elections during winter break when students weren't in town to vote and sabotaging the compromise last year that would have preserved a fee waiver encouraging student-friendly housing developments on Route 1.

The attitude of many on the city council in understandable. After all, who are these measures hurting? Students? Students who don't vote? Students who don't stick around College Park very long? Students whose income tax goes to their home districts because they don't bother to change their address to College Park? ...

Just roommates
Colleges' final frontier: mixed-gender housing
Globe - 2 Apr 2008
... USA - Once limited to such socially liberal bastions as Hampshire College, Wesleyan University, and Oberlin College, mixed-gender housing has edged into the mainstream, although only a small fraction of students have taken advantage of the new policies so far. Clark and Dartmouth universities introduced mixed-gender rooms last fall, and Brown and Brandeis announced plans last month to follow suit ...

Gee defends two-year housing plan
Lantern - 2 Apr 2008
... COLUMBUS, OH - "What we're about is creating an environment for students, no matter what their economic circumstances are, to have a true collegiate
experience."
President E. Gordon Gee

President E. Gordon Gee's plan requiring sophomores to live on campus has gained attention and a fair amount of criticism, both from students believing they should be able to choose where they live and from campus-area landlords facing a depletion of their tenant base ...

UPC Master Plan will double USC housing
Officials said one of their main goals is to take control of the housing market.
Daily Trojan - 2 Apr 2008
... LOS ANGELES, CA - As USC prepares to present its master plan to the board of trustees, university students, faculty and administrators are wondering how the full-scale, multibillion dollar expansion will affect the campus dynamic and if the expansion would be positive.

The plan, which is projected to break ground in the next two to three years, will focus on providing students with a substantial amount of new university-owned housing in the immediate vicinity of the North University Park Campus ...

Why Plymouth Rocks
A lively college town set amidst nature at its most serene and situated in the geographic center of the state, Plymouth is a destination with something for everyone.
New Hampshire Magazine - 1 Apr 2008
... PLYMOUTH, NH - “It’s true that originally this was not a destination spot, but that’s changed. Between skiing, the college and the Holderness School nearby there are plenty of reasons to come here now. And there’s enough stuff to keep you busy,” said Jeff DeMoura, who with his partner, Jody Dickerson, moved to Plymouth from Cape Cod in 2002 to buy and renovate a 19th century inn. The men sold the inn last year to concentrate on their gourmet hot dog business, Junkyard Dawgs — a hip hot dog emporium on Main Street that offers 30 different toppings and delivers ...

“It’s a cute little place, a walking town, where everyone knows each other and you don’t have to have wheels to get around,” says Rosemary Earle, the manager of the Readery, a storefront used bookstore whose plate glass window overlooks the town green. “I don’t even live here, but this is where I shop and this where I know everybody.” ...

Gainesville virtues draw retirees
Sun - 1 Apr 2008
... GAINESVILLE, FL - Gainesville may be on the brink of a senior surge.

Retirees are a growing demographic and are increasingly drawn by the town's culture, climate, costs and health care. And they have the time and spending money to enjoy what the city has to offer.

The city is fast gaining a reputation as a retirement destination, thanks in part to high rankings in different publications at a time when the large baby boomer generation is reaching retirement age and people are living longer and healthier lives ...

Appleton trees set state records
Four in city considered the biggest
Post-Crescent - 1 Apr 2008
... APPLETON, WI - "A year ago on Arbor Day we started a program called 'Big Trees of Appleton.' The whole idea was to develop neighborhood and community pride," Stanonik said.

Of the 70 trees nominated by property owners or people who were simply passing by and saw a big tree, 26 are in the top 10 in the state for their species ...

Stanonik said a variety of factors lead to trees being big.

"It could depend on how property owners care for the trees," he said. "A lot of our big trees were located near City Park and the Lawrence University campus. The fact that we have so many big trees, I think, stems from the fact Appleton is such an old community. You often find big trees in cities and towns with rich histories." ...

Education Realty Trust closes financing for largest project
Business Journal - 1 Apr 2008
... WEST CHESTER, PA - Education Realty Trust Inc. subsidiary Allen & O'Hara Development Co. LLC has closed on a $100.3 million bond issue to build new student housing at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

The 1,197 beds will be located in two, seven-story residence halls on the campus in [Pennsylvania]. Allen & O'Hara is overseeing the design, financing and construction process. Construction cost is about $80 million and is under way, with opening scheduled for August 2009.

This is the first of three phases in West Chester University's Housing Renewal Initiative, which will ultimately replace more than 3,300 beds over multiple phases and years ...

ASU breaks ground on $30M nursing addition
AZ Republic - 1 Apr 2008
... PHOENIX, AZ - ASU is in the midst of a multi-million dollar building spree in the heart of Phoenix.

In 2006, the university opened a downtown Phoenix campus. The project, which got funding from a $220 million city bond, is key part of city plans to revitalize the heart of the city ...

In addition to the nursing building, construction crews are busy with several other ASU projects downtown. They include a $150 million student housing complex, which is called Taylor Place ...

Student digs: Only the best for the class of '08
The student 'dive' is becoming a thing of the past as landlords seeking top returns start with wi-fi and work up to a stylish finish
Telegraph - 1 Apr 2008
... UK - Student housing conjures up images of rotting floorboards, furry damp patches and general squalor reminiscent of The Young Ones. However, such classic "dives" are increasingly rare as canny landlords replace dirty digs with desirable residences to attract the best tenants and higher rents.

Competition from big corporate suppliers with student housing portfolios is a key factor motivating landlords to spruce up their rental property. In a sector worth £6.6 billion and expected to grow to more than £20 billion over the next six years, according to property consultant Savills, individual landlords need to up their game to survive ...

Get offline and save your local record store, one album at a time
Daily Orange - 1 Apr 2008
... SYRACUSE, NY - The college town record store is slowly disappearing, and the future of musical diversity lies in the balance.

Recently, the Raleigh News & Observer ran a feature about the closing of Schoolkids Records - the last of the local music stores surrounding University of North Carolina's campus. The store had to shut down due to higher CD prices, online music access and less disposable college income due to higher tuitions and near-campus rent ...

The end of the college record store
The Flat Hat - 1 Apr 2008
... WILLIAMSBURG, VA - Across the United States, independent record stores, once an integral part of the college town, are now dying out. The latest casualties of a faltering record industry, smaller record stores have seen a steady decline in business since the internet became the default market for music.

Along with other college town necessities such as quirky bookstores and coffee shops, the independent record store was a place where both students and locals could come together and indulge their passion for music ...

Davis parents pack meeting to decide fate of junior high
Bee - 1 Apr 2008
... DAVIS, CA - Concerned parents gathered Monday night at Emerson Junior High School in Davis for a special meeting to discuss the school's possible closure, and an alternative proposal to restructure the city's secondary schools to deal with a budget crisis plaguing the high-performing district ...

Rent rises for campus residents
Next year brings increases to housing costs and utilities rolled into rent
Vanguard - 1 Apr 2008
... PORTLAND, OR - n University housing next year can expect their rent rates to sharply rise, with the rent of some units increasing by an average of about 8 percent and as much as 15 percent from this year's costs ... the new rates have increased primarily because of inflation and the increases in surcharges--a result of rising gas costs--for goods and services delivered to campus ...

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