Starting this fall, the University of Illinois Springfield will offer housing for graduate students who want to live downtown.
A partnership between UIS, Town and Country Bank and Bluffstone, LLC., a student housing development firm, will give graduate students a new option for off-campus housing in the downtown area. Bluffstone, LLC will build a residential complex for students called Villas Downtown Springfield, located on Third and Madison streets.
Kelly Young, director of student housing operations at Bluffstone, believes Springfield is a great place for a student residential complex.
“We know that young people want to live, work and spend money in the same area,” Young said in an interview with Illinois Times.
Since 2012, when a UIS survey revealed the desire for student housing downtown, Dr. Clarice Ford, interim vice chancellor for student affairs, and Dr. Van Vieregge, assistant vice chancellor for student services, have been advocates for the project.
Ford and Vieregge agreed that having UIS students reside downtown is an opportunity to strengthen the relationship between the university and the city’s downtown.
“Now, UIS residents will have a voice in the downtown area, providing an opportunity for say in new vendors that may be looking to come to here,” said Ford.
Villas Downtown Springfield will have space for 92 residents. The building will offer studio and two-bedroom apartments ranging from $750 to $1,000 per month. There will be a workout area, laundry facility, a coffee shop and a maintenance staff.
The story was reported by the Illinois Times on February 18, 2016.
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