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New university dorms upset apartments

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Steve Brown Apartments, a private apartment and residence business on campus, is driving a public relations campaign against the addition of the new University of Wisconsin residence hall of the east campus development plan.

Steve Brown Apartments sent out a letter earlier this month stating the plan does not need to include the construction of a new residence hall in University Square, which will hold about 700 beds, because it will negatively affect the company’s business.

Currently, Steve Brown Apartments owns and manages five private residence halls: The Highlander, The Langdon, The Regent, The Statesider and The Towers, offering over 1,400 students a place to live.

The company thinks the addition of a new residence hall is unneeded because there has not been a noticeable increase in student population.

SBA is concerned this addition will cause negative side effects for undergraduates and the UW community.

In the letter, SBA questioned the need to divert millions of dollars for student-fee reserves that may raise housing costs, deny first-year students the freedom of housing choice and also shortchange faculty and staff salaries for the construction.

“There are no plans to increase enrollment, making the plan for additional University housing all the more troublesome,” the letter from Steve Brown said.

Despite the minor fluctuations of the incoming student population, Director of University Housing Paul Evans said the new residence hall will benefit incoming freshmen.

“The target [of the new dorm] has been some time in coming,” Evans said. “We’ve been unable to set the demand for freshmen living in university residence.”

UW students agree living in campus residence halls provides a unique experience many incoming freshmen enjoy.

“Although building more university dorms may hurt the business of private residence buildings, I believe that every student should be able to experience living in a university dorm,” UW freshman Bill Fleming said. “I know I’ve really enjoyed living in one.”

According to the letter, the university provides housing to 80 percent of the freshman population, while 20 percent of the freshman class chose to live in private halls and off campus.

Still, students are not forced to live in university housing as they are at many universities across the nation.

“We’re not requiring students to live in university housing,” Evans said.

Because students are not required to live in university halls, private residence halls gear toward a different clientele. The market for private living aims at both freshmen and upperclassmen, while the university relies heavily on freshmen.

The differences in age and demands of UW students have kept the competition between the university and private businesses small in the past.

Many students said the competition on campus is important to keep Madison consumers happy.

“From my perspective, I believe competition is always a good thing,” UW student Meggan Babcock said. “I’m definitely in favor of any competition which may result in better housing services or more alternatives for students.” Evans agreed the competition is widespread throughout the student population because generally upperclassmen live off campus.

“There are 22,000 undergraduate students; that is a very large number of students living off campus,” Evans said.