The newest on-campus living option for Syracuse University students will be Park Point Syracuse, a 226-bed apartment complex set to open August 2010 behind Haven Hall.

The construction of the four- and five-story building on 401 Comstock Ave. is receiving mixed reactions from developers, students and city officials.

The $16 million complex will have similar, though slightly fewer, amenities than the University Village apartments on South Campus.

A four-bedroom apartment will cost $800 per month, said Paul Wilmot, president of Wilmorite Construction, the company that started building the complex in July. In comparison, a four-bedroom apartment costs between $840-$890 at the University Village apartment complex on South Campus, according to their Web site.

Wilmot, an SU alumnus, declined to comment on Park Point Syracuse’s two-bedroom apartment prices, but said utilities are included in the rent.

The complex will feature a small courtyard, fitness center and multi-purpose room with flat screen TVs and a pool table. Each unit will also have bathrooms and free use of laundry facilities.

Wilmorite Construction worked with several architects to make the building’s appearance unique and fitting for the SU area, Wilmot said.

‘We wanted to come up with a building that would differentiate itself from current buildings at Syracuse,’ he said.

The 87,461-square-foot site is being constructed in front of the Adams Street parking garage on 0.75 acres of land.

The land used to be a steep hill. ‘We had to remove the hill to get the foundation started,’ Wilmot said, adding that the set up of construction equipment has been the biggest challenge so far.

Wilmorite will build, own and manage the property through a 48-year-long ground lease with SU. The developer will make an annual ground lease payment, said SU spokesman Kevin Morrow. He declined to say how much the payment would be.

Wilmot said he expects Park Point Syracuse to be 100 percent full with a waiting list for next year. The developer received around 60 calls before advertising the property last week, Wilmot said.

Alana Parsons, however, said she believes the apartments probably won’t fill because students have already made housing plans and are just hearing about this new complex.

‘I thought it was an extension of the (parking) garage,’ said Parsons, a sophomore advertising major.

She said renting a house, which she will do, next year, was also cheaper. She called university-area apartments like Park Point Syracuse a rip-off.

‘It’s like University Village,’ Parsons said. ‘It’s entirely too much for me. On a housing lease, you can do $650 a month.’

But the rent price isn’t as much of a factor for sophomore Mary Ryan.

‘I think that’s high, but I would still probably do it,’ Ryan said, adding that other students would express interest in the apartments since many hadn’t completed their housing assignments yet.

Park Point Syracuse is setting up a leasing office in mid-October, and currently collecting e-mail addresses of students interested in leasing.

When University Village started reaching out to students last year about their apartments offering similar amenities and price range, however, everything wasn’t so simple.

‘Initially it was a little tough, because we didn’t have an existing building to show anybody,’ said Matt Burkett, University Village community manager.

Costs were also an initial concern for some, but that students signed after realizing the amenities were included in the rent. The complex filled most of its apartments this year, Burkett said.

The latest apartment project on Main Campus has spurred conversation from people outside of the SU community.

Syracuse Common Councilor Pat Hogan has conflicting opinions with the rest of the council members because of a 20-year payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) agreement, which exempts SU from paying taxes on the complex.

Normally, SU would have to pay taxes since it is leasing property on university land for non-educational purposes. But only the developer will pay taxes with a PILOT agreement.

‘The whole idea of PILOTs is to spur economic activity,’ Hogan said. ‘This is just a housing project for basically students. There’s no reason for a PILOT.’

Hogan said that SU was playing the agreement off as a way to take pressures off university-area, permanent residents, who sometimes clash with students.

‘I don’t think the students are necessarily bad for the neighborhoods as long as they behave themselves,’ Hogan said, adding that SU would take advantage of the community by using more PILOTs in the future.

But Syracuse Common Councilor Lance Denno, who voted in favor of the PILOT in April, said the complex could result in fewer conversions of single-family homes to student rentals because of less demand for off-campus housing.

‘It’s in the community’s interest to build student housing to relieve pressure in nearby neighborhoods,’ Denno said.

He added that the PILOT was the best deal the city could get. It’s not the only one around the area either. Denno said at least 50 percent of retail property in Syracuse is tax exempt.

‘That’s a big hurdle for us,’ Denno said.

mcboren@syr.edu

Published on October 5, 2009 at 12:00 pm