According to Gaythia Weis
Puget Neighborhood Association President, it seems that the property off of
Lincoln Street, which was planned for a complex called “The Grove” designed to
house over five hundred students, has halted construction.
Campus Crest, the
development company who purchased the land in 2013 announced major changes in
company restructuring in a press release on Nov., 4.
“We will be discontinuing
all construction and development to simplify the business model and focus on
organic growth,” according to the company press release.
The question then, said
Dick Conoboy the Samish Neighborhood Advisory representative, is will this mean
that Campus Crest stops all projects, even those already in progress?
“Where they are at right
now is they’ve gone in there and they’ve got permits to get the project moving,
they’ve spent money but not all of it,” said Conoboy.
Conoboy said he had been
trying to contact the company which is based out of Charlotte, North Carolina
since the release had come out but had yet to have luck with confirming
anything as of now.
“It’d be a couple weeks
before they know what they are doing,” said Conoboy.
Additionally, according
to the press release, the company’s CEO Ted Rollins stepped down from his
position with Richard Kahlbaugh replacing him as the CEO to lead the company
through its “repositioning.”
“The student housing part
of the Lincoln Street development projects are at least on hold for now,” said
Weis on the Puget neighborhood website.
Initially when Campus
Crest bought the property there was a lot of concern about potential traffic
problems. Since the complex would be right across from the mobile home park,
there would be potential for traffic issues with the major increase of people
merging onto Lakeway Street, according to the Traffic Impact Analysis.
Similar issues had come
up when the University Ridge development, according to the Puget Neighborhood
Association.
Located off of Puget
Street, not far from the Campus Crest Property, University Ridge was also
designed to house college students from Western Washington University.
According the City of
Bellingham website, University Ridge would have held 164 units.
According to the Traffic
Impact Analysis which was written up in 2013 due to the concerns brought up by
University Ridge, “The project [University Ridge] would increase traffic
volumes in the study area and contribute to increases in intersection delay.”
Eventually construction
also stopped on the University Ridge project, according to the City of
Bellingham Planning and Community Development Department.
Brian Smart who works in
the Bellingham Planning and Community Development Department, said “I’ve heard
some rumblings but nothing definitive yet,” when referring to the possibility
of Campus Crest stopping construction all together.
According to Campus
Crest’s website it already has multiple locations in Washington including
Pullman, Cheney and Ellensburg.
The company’s message is,
“fully loaded college living.” The apartments come with a number of amenities
like a fitness center, game room, indoor-tanning, library, high-speed internet,
pool, sport courts, etc.
Annette Quarre, a
sophomore at Western Washington University who lives off campus said her
amenities include, “natural light, bay view, locked building and laundry
onsite.”
According to Quarre,
finding a home in college is all about the “general functional ability” of the
apartment or house.
“There’s already a gym on
campus, and I already pay tuition for that, I wouldn’t use a gym in my own building,”
said Quarre.
According to “The Grove”
at Bellingham website, the complex would have both two bedroom, two bathroom
units and three bedroom, three bathroom units.
“Location, location,
location,” Quarre stressed, as she added that her place is about a ten minute
walk from campus.
When asked about what she
looks for in a home of campus Quarre said, “I feel like I have pretty basic
demands and if those are met and then exceeded I’d be way more willing to live
somewhere.”
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