Residents of Mississippi State University’s Aiken Village and Arbour Acres will be displaced after December 2011.
Ann Bailey, director of housing and residence life, said the Aiken Village buildings have poor infrastructure and would be too expensive to renovate.
“It’s old,” she said. “[It was] built back in the 1950s after World War II. It’s still livable, but it is not to the level of
quality we want to provide.”
Bill Kibler, vice president for student affairs, said he wants to close the Aiken Village apartments before they become a risk to anyone.
“There is never a good time to do what we need to do to Aiken Village,” he said. “I wish we could say Aiken Village [could last] for another 20 years, [but it is] not in the best of shape.”
“The university is getting out of the apartment business. There are enough apartments in town, and the market in town is saturated,” she said.
Kibler said there are apartments in town that are affordable and family-friendly.
“It has always been the community of Starkville who has met the needs of these graduate students,” he said.
One resident said tenants of Aiken Village were given notices a few weeks ago on the facility closing and were asked to sign a new lease requiring them to be out by next year.
“I think that State did it in a short notice,” she said. “It’s affecting a lot of people. [Some] of them are really upset about it. When [the Resident Assistants] gave them the notices, a few of them started crying.”
Kibler said one major factor in closing Aiken Village is the cost of a new sprinkler system.
According to the Mississippi Fire Prevention Code, every building owned by the state, including every building on MSU’s campus, has to have an automatic sprinkler system. Installing a sprinkler system in Aiken Village would cost nearly a million dollars. In order to pay for renovations, the university would have to raise rent, Kibler said.
MSU is in the process of installing sprinkler systems for Rice, Evans, Herbert and Hull Halls.
Aiken Village and Arbour Acres were originally scheduled to close at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year, but residents have the option of extending their leases until December 2011 if they need more time, Kibler said.
If a tenant of the apartments finds a new residency at any point, he or she is allowed to get out of his or her leasing contract if he or she gives 30-day notice.
The $200 security deposit fee will be repaid to residents who honor the length of their contract.
The university reserves the right to move families living in Aiken Village after July 2011 to a single apartment building. Having residents live in one area in Aiken Village will consolidate space, save money on utilities and be better for security, Kibler said.
On Monday, a town hall meeting was held in the Bost Extension Center Theater for Aiken Village tenants.
Residents voiced concerns over the lack of a public transportation system in Starkville, which is a major problem for foreign students who do not own cars. They also complained about the prices of apartments in town and MSU’s decision to no longer offer family housing.
“I feel like I’m being given the pink slip here,” one resident said.
Another resident said MSU should make graduate housing a priority.
The university will determine the cost of a public transportation system and then negotiate a contract with local apartment complexes hosting students, Kibler said.
Students with housing waiver scholarships will be handled on a person-to-person basis. All scholarships already given will be honored, Lisa Harris, associate vice president for student affairs, said.
Both Aiken Village and Arbour Acres will be demolished after December 2011.
“Aiken Village cannot last forever,” Kibler said. “It has served the needs of thousands of students [for] over 50 years.”
The university is currently debating on what it wants to do with the space left from the apartments. One possibility is another student housing facility, Bailey said.
MSU has no financial option to provide family-style apartments to residents. To build a new Aiken Village would cost from 50 to 100 million dollars, Kibler said.
“It is not possible to build new apartments that will have the same rent as the 50-year-old apartments [residents] live in now,” Kibler said.
Residents impacted by the closings have been e-mailed a list of housing resources in the community. The dean of students is currently working on an off campus housing guide that will be both a publication and a website, Kibler said.