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On-campus housing premieres at Auraria
By Kristi Peregoy
kperegoy@mscd.edu

Photo by Chuck Iversen/civerse1@mscd.edu After the official grand opening celebration for the Auraria Campus Village apartments Aug. 9, Metro President Stephen Jordan and Susan Powers, of Walnut Development, talk about one of the many options for future development on a scaled-down 3D model of the Auraria Campus.

On Aug. 9 the Auraria campus welcomed its newest student housing community, Campus Village, with lunch and a ribbon cutting ceremony by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper.

Campus Village, located on 4th and Walnut, has been the center of attention for many developers and construction workers since last August, but talks and planning for the project have gone on for about four years.

The completion ceremony for Campus Village is just the beginning for developers hoping to spruce up the Denver area. Denver city councilwoman Judy Montero appeared alongside Mayor Hickenlooper at the Aug. 9 ceremony and talked about remodeling Denver over the next several years.

Hickenlooper has been integral to the revitalization of LoDo, earning a National Preservation Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 1997, according to the city of Denver website. He was happy to be on board with the Campus Village project.

“This is a huge thing,” Hickenlooper said. Pointing out that Campus Village was the first student housing project on Auraria Campus, he said it “will be a powerful attraction to incoming students and will benefit the city of Denver.” Hickenlooper also said that “there is a close correlation to benefits to the city and higher education.”

Metro President Stephen Jordan hopes on-campus housing will help graduate more students from the three Auraria institutions because they will have a sense of community and will be surrounded by other students.

As the first on-campus housing community, Campus Village serves as further proof that the campus is changing.

Metro started out 40 years ago as an affordable commuter college for non-traditional students, but over time the college’s population has grown younger. The most noticeable change has occurred in the last few years. According to Metro’s website the mean age of a typical Metro student in 2000 was 27; a year later, in 2001, the mean age was 26. Because the Auraria campus continues to appeal to a younger crowd, it has had to make changes like the on-campus housing.

Recent high school graduate Emily Funke, who will start Metro this fall, was happy to move in to Campus Village along with 150 other freshmen.

"It’s close to home, it’s brand new and a lot nicer (than other student housing),” Funke said.

Compared to other student housing Auraria offers, such as The Regency and The Inn at Auraria, Campus Village offers updated amenities. Laundry machines send students instant messages when their laundry is done, and wireless connection corridors are located throughout the building. Cable television, high-speed Internet access and phone lines also compliment every room. Also included in the monthly rent are basic utilities, access to a workout and game room, and fully furnished rooms. Residents also pay $75 a month for parking and another fee for a required meal plan.

The completed structures at Campus Village are being called phase one, with phase two to be completed around 2009 and to feature many other jewels for Denver to enjoy. According to Susan Powers of Urban Ventures, who headed the project alongside Jerry Glick, phase two of Campus Village, still just dirt, may include retail shops, more courtyards, student housing towers and an affordable townhouse community for faculty with families, as well as students. The location of Campus Village has been applauded for its proximity to light rail, thus providing easy access to the rest of Denver. Completion of the light rail system, part of RTD’s FasTracks plan, is planned for 2012, and will connect a majority of the Denver metro area.

“Students can live, work and go to school right here in Denver,” Councilwoman Montero said.
In addition to light rail, a heavy rail train track runs nearby – a possible drawback for future residents. But the village is “trying to cut a deal with the railroads,” Power said, “so they won’t blow their horns when they come through here.”