Big Weekend for U-Heights!

Due to construction at Hancher, a last minute route change to the River Run 5K race will take it through University Heights on Sunday, April 27th. Race begins 9 AM

VIEW MAP

Please watch for runners, expect traffic delays Sunday morning.

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From Streets and Sidewalks Chair, Councilor Virginia Miller:

City Tree Planting Event MOVED TO 4/26/14 1:00 PM

Hello all - another update on University Heights Tree Planting Day.  The weather forecast predicts a nice day on Saturday and rain for Sunday. Therefore I am changing the planting event to Saturday afternoon, April 26th, at 1pm. If you would like to help, my number and email are listed below.

Trees will be delivered to Paul Moore's lot across from Stella.Meet there for a quick lesson in tree planting at 1pm on Saturday. Then we'll fan out across town.

Planting locations for this round of trees are:

114 Highland, 235 Highland

220 Koser, 255 Koser

1424 Grand, 1440 Grand, 1456 Grand

Thanks so much!  and BIG THANKS to the homeowners and tenants who are receiving trees.  Their willingness to take responsibility for a new tree will keep our town beautiful for decades to come.

Drinks and snacks will be set up back at the triangle lot when we are done.

Best,

Virginia Miller

630-649-9661

virginia@university-heights.org

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Today's Press Citizen contained an interesting story:

UI planning to pair with firm to build apartments

The gist of the story is that rather than replace Hawkeye Court apartments themselves, the UI will contract with a private firm to demolish, rebuild, and operate an apartment complex to open the fall of 2014.

(UI Facilities Management photo)

The agreement with Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, based in Dallas, Texas, would include a 444 bed 227 unit project at the current Hawkeye Court site, is to be approved by the Board of Regents on Wednesday. A second phase, not yet ready for approval, would construct an additional 350 beds on the Hawkeye Dr. site. Terms of the agreement include UI leasing the current site for $1.00, and that Balfour would have a 41 year lease with a 10 year extension option.

From the article:

"Rent for apartments in the proposed development hasn’t yet been established, and Rocklin said he didn’t want to speculate about whether the $650 to $750 per month range was accurate. If UI were to continue to own Hawkeye Court apartments, which opened in 1968, rent would need to increase by at least $200 per month to cover the estimated $10 million in necessary maintenance over the next 10 years, he said.
'So although the rents will be higher than we currently have at Hawkeye Court, they’ll be similar to the market in the area and provide tremendously better accommodations than we’re currently able to provide,' Rocklin said."

It will be interesting to see what kind of pressure  these additional units will have on the rental prices in University Heights. One would suspect that having a large increase in competing "student" housing would be felt first in non-owner occupied units at Grandview. But given the rise of single family homes that have switched from owner occupied to rental, it may also make a difference throughout U-Heights?

Here's another major issue to ponder:  Is this the beginning of a trend in public/private partnerships for UI? If so the University's current presence in, and surrounding, our town future projects could have substantial impact on U-Heights.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Here are some additional answers to the recent letter sent out by the opposition about One University Place and our Community.

1. The Opposition indicates that the developer will have “10 years before he has to start construction, with no time limit on when he must begin construction on the second building”. This time frame is not acceptable to the four councilors who want to Move University Heights Forward and will be voted on by the next city council since it has not been approved by the present city council. The developer has every incentive to complete construction. The longer a project goes on, the worse the profit margin.

2. All council candidates agreed at the recent Candidate forum that there needs to be a clause in the agreement with the developer that he cannot sell to a non-tax paying entity. Again nothing has been approved by the present city council.

3. The Opposition talks about a smaller development and used the term “moderately priced condos” in the candidate’s forum. A cost analysis of a smaller development is needed to prove that it would be profitable, but one has never been presented. “Moderately priced condos” would be in the same price range as the 90+ Grandview condos and would compete for sales with Grandview residences.

Grandview Neighbors

Reading Pat Yeggy’s post about the original discussions on Grandview in the 50’s was very interesting. The concerns expressed by University Heights Residents at that time on the Grandview Development reminded me of the current discussions about the St. Andrew Development. Fortunately the concerns expressed about Grandview endangering the sense of community have not developed. The young professionals living in Grandview are bringing energy and diversity to our community and I am proud to call them neighbors.

I’m confident the future residents of the St. Andrew Development will bring more positive improvements to our University Heights Community . We will all be pleased to call them neighbors.

Time Machine: 1950 City Council Minutes

As city historian I was going through old minutes  and found these from the first two Council meetings in January, 1950. There are some striking similarities to our current situation, and it certainly makes interesting reading.

At the January 18th meeting there was discussion of a proposed apartment complex south of Marietta and west of George streets. This area was just outside of city limits. The minutes state that it was recognized that there were residents opposed to the project, and it was thought best to invite the developer, Mr. Crawford, to the next council meeting.

Mr Crawford came to the January 30th meeting and a representative of the Marietta neighbors spoke about their objections to the project. Mr Crawford then gave his rebuttal.

To quote the minutes, "After some further discussion Mr. Crawford left. The objectors suggested no course of action for the council to follow and the meeting adjourned."

This brief summary doesn't begin to tell the story as well as the full account (barely two pages long)                      READ IT ALL HERE