University officials are evaluating Nicholson Apartments with the possibility of “upgrading or replacing,” according Steve Waller, director of Residential Life.
Waller said the scheduled demolition of Alex Box Stadium, which isn’t expected to occur until the new stadium opens early next year, opened up the opportunity for evaluation.
“Because they’re tearing down Alex Box Stadium, there’s a lot of real estate over there,” Waller said. “So we’ll be assessing the entire area.”
The area being evaluated, between Lot D and West Chimes Street, consists of Alex Box Stadium and the Nicholson Apartment complex.
The Nicholson Apartments were completed in 1964 and consist of 578 apartments in 16 buildings.
The apartments are reserved for families and graduate students. The only other University housing reserved for this purpose is the Edward Gay Apartments.
Waller said the University is looking at various options for the Nicholson complex.
“It could be new apartments; it could have other uses,” Waller said. “This is a study of the effective use of that space.”
The University is working with Economics Research Associates to “study the sight and the real estate market,” according to Staci Pepitone, assistant to the vice chancellor for Finance and Administrative Services.
Officials from the ERA could not be reached for comment.
Pepitone said the University does not have plans for the area at this time.
“We don’t have a pre-conceived notion of what we want the report to say,” Pepitone said. “It could say to do nothing.”
Emmett David, director of Facility Development in the Office of Facility Services, said “married housing is not going anywhere in the next five years.”
“We are only looking at the existing facilities because in the next 10 years it will probably outlive its useful life,” David said.
Eric Monday, interim vice chancellor for Student Life, said in a April 21 interview with The Daily Reveille the Edward Gay Apartments, which were built during the same period as the Nicholson Apartments, are “at the end of their useful life.”
“One area we need to work on is our grad and family housing,” Monday said. “We are focusing on that now.”
Kristine Calongne, director of Public Affairs, said the goal of the evaluation is to “use this gateway to campus in a manner that best serves the University community.”
“We are open to the different possibilities that may come forward from the economic study with no current agenda in mind other than to modernize our graduate and family housing in order to enhance our competitive advantage for recruiting students,” Calongne said.
—-Contact Katie Kennedy at [email protected]