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New student housing complex gains YSU trustees approval
40-year lease on $7.8M, 162-bed, four-story facility concerns one member
By Denise Dick
YOUNGSTOWN
With two board members opposed, Youngstown State University trustees authorized a lease to develop a 162-bed student housing complex.
Hallmark Campus Communities of Columbus plans to build a $7.8 million, 162-bed, four-story apartment-style complex that it will finance. The structure will be built on 4.4 acres of university-owned land on Fifth Avenue between Rayen, Lincoln and Belmont avenues and is expected to open in fall 2016.
Trustees Delores Crawford, David Deibel and James Greene voted in favor of the measure at a trustees meeting Wednesday with Ted Roberts and Carole Weimer opposed. Both Leonard Schiavone and Harry Meshel abstained.
Meshel cited “familial responsibility” as his reason – without elaborating. Schiavone, an attorney, said he represents a client in another matter who has an interest in developing the property.
Dr. John Jakubek was absent. Dr. Sudershan Garg’s term expired, and Gov. John Kasich hasn’t appointed a replacement.
Because YSU is a public institution, the lease also must be approved by the department of administrative services. It’s a 40-year lease, but other details, including how much money YSU will get, haven’t been finalized and won’t be public until approved by the state.
That length of time is what worries Weimer.
“My hesitation is that we’re locking up this large piece of property for 40 years,” she said during a Finance and Facilities Committee meeting which preceded the full board meeting.
Previous YSU trustees and administrations have worked hard, buying and demolishing dilapidated property to maintain and beautify the campus core, she said.
“We had a land lease project a few years ago and that company went belly up,” Weimer said.
She was referring to the former Wick-Pollock Inn. When the company that formerly ran the hotel shut down, it had a mortgage on the property.
It took YSU many years and a lot of money to reclaim ownership, Weimer said.
The property, now called the Pollock House, is the university-owned presidential residence. YSU spent about $4 million to renovate and restore the historic Wick Avenue building.
Richard Kirk, Hallmark president and CEO, said it’s the standard length of time for these types of leases, called ground leases.
“A 40-year lease is standard operating procedure,” he said.
Roberts, also an attorney, said he knows that the department of administrative services doesn’t require competitive bidding or requests for proposals for leases such as this one.
The department does allow them though, and he said he’d be more comfortable going through either of those processes to see the project developed.
University President Jim Tressel said that would delay the project, risking the university losing momentum. It’s possible by delaying the project, no one will be interested in pursuing a project of that size, he said.
Bryce Miner, a student trustee, doesn’t have a vote at full trustees’ meeting. He voted in favor of the project in the Finance and Facilities Committee session.
“That’s what students want today,” he said.
They like their independence, Miner said.
If the 162-bed facility, the first phase, is successful, the company plans to develop two more phases including more housing and other amenities including restaurants and convenience stores that will appeal to students. Subsequent phases would call for the demolition of Smith Hall to make room for other buildings.
Those phases, however, also must be approved by trustees.
Kirk said the company has never built a project as small as 162 beds. It’s smallest is a 344-bed project, he said.
The company likes the momentum generated by Tressel and believes the demand will be at YSU for this type of housing, officials said.
Kirk said that if the company didn’t believe that, it wouldn’t be interested in building such a small complex.
In other business Wednesday, trustees approved a $177 million fiscal year 2016 operating budget.
Only Roberts was opposed. He wanted the general fund deficit eliminated.
The 2016 budget reduces the deficit from $10.3 million to $3.1 million.
The budget includes no tuition increases for undergraduate students but is based on a $3.5 million increase in state funding compared to last year. A 1 percent enrollment increase also is calculated into the plan.