Apartments could be demolished

Andrea Zagata | The State News

More than 60 years of history might disappear from campus if an MSU department gets the go-ahead to demolish a block of campus apartments.

Officials from MSU’s Division of Residential and Hospitality Services, or RHS, said they will ask the MSU Board of Trustees at its April 16 meeting for authorization to begin planning for demolition of the Faculty Brick and Cherry Lane apartments.

The apartments, which are located on the southwest corner of campus between Trowbridge Road and Shaw Lane, were constructed in the late 1940s and 1950s, said Anthony Frewen, director of marketing communications, a division of RHS.

Frewen said the apartments were built with a life expectancy of about 25 to 30 years. He said the university spent about $2.5 million throughout the past six years in minor repair work on the apartments, which factored into demolition proposal.

“They are now long past their expected life,” Frewen said. “It’s not a safety issue, but it is one where the facilities that were built so very long ago are tired.”

Frewen said there are about 475 apartments with a little more than 400 leaseholders between the complexes. The total number of tenants is larger because of the number of families that live in the apartments, he said.

About 25 percent of the leaseholders are families and about 42 percent are graduate students. The remaining percentage consists of undergraduate students and faculty.

Frewen said RHS decided to notify the apartments’ tenants early in the process because they will need to begin making plans for future housing.

“Assuming the board gives authorization to plan for their demolition … May 15, 2011, would be the run out of the final lease period,” Frewen said. “We’re announcing now in order to give residents as much time as possible.”

If approved by the board, demolition likely would begin in July or August 2011, said Sharri Margraves, director of Campus Living Services.

Families with children attending the nearby Red Cedar Elementary School would be allowed to stay until the end of the school year in June.

Vennie Gore, assistant vice president for RHS, said he believes there are enough apartments at Spartan Village, another apartment complex further south on Harrison Road, to house tenants who might be displaced if the board approves demolition plans.

“We still remain committed to having apartments and student-family housing,” Gore said. “This is really just the first step in a long process.”

Frewen said the past several years have been crucial in the decision-making process. He said RHS evaluated the site and resolved to ask the board for permission to plan for demolition because the cost of maintaining the facilities exceeds their value. Margraves said although the Spartan Village and Cherry Lane apartments were built within several years of one another, the latter was constructed differently and has not held up as well throughout the years.

In the next eight to 10 years, Spartan Village likely will need an evaluation similar to the current review of Cherry Lane and Faculty Brick apartments, she said.

“We haven’t studied (Spartan Village) as much,” Margraves said.

Monica Barrios, a tenant at Cherry Lane who is at MSU as part of the High School Equivalency Program, said she is not dismayed by the decision to demolish the buildings. Barrios said she had lived at the apartments for about a month.

“It’s not a bad idea,” Barrios said.

Frewen said it’s understandable that demolishing the buildings might be a sensitive subject because of their historical value.

“These facilities have sentimental value to a lot of people,” he said. “So we will be sure to handle that memorial process with sensitivity.”