On-campus housing for students will no longer be limited to residence halls and South Campus apartments beginning next fall.

Double bedrooms in the Sheraton University Hotel and Conference Center and the Parkview Hotel on East Genesee Street, along with four-bedroom apartments in the Park Point Syracuse apartment complex and University Village Apartments, will be available in the SU on-campus housing lottery for the 2011-12 academic year.

Park Point and UV apartments will only be open to students who have already completed their two-year housing agreements, according to the housing overview release on the Office of Housing, Meal Plans and I.D. Card Services website. The Sheraton and Parkview hotels will be open to all students eligible to live on campus, according to the release.

‘SU believes that the campus living experience is critical to student learning and overall success in college, and so we want to ensure that upperclass students continue to have a positive and enriching SU experience,’ said Sara Miller, associate director of SU News Services, in an e-mail.

One floor of the Sheraton will house 68 students, three floors at the Parkview will house 70 students, and 22 four-bedroom apartments at Park Point and 25 four-bedroom apartments at UV will house 88 and 100 students, respectively, Miller said. A total of 326 new spots have been created for students in the SU housing lottery.

SU has received the largest number of applicants in school history for next year’s freshman class, according to a Jan. 25 article in The Daily Orange. SU has been planning for the level of student housing needed for next year, Miller said. Long-term plans for housing are developed with future enrollment projections in mind, she said.

Drama and design students will have first dibs on the rooms at Parkview because of the close proximity to the Syracuse Stage Complex and Warehouse, Miller said. Learning communities will be created on the floors at the hotel, Miller said.

‘Ongoing housing assessments are conducted to ensure that a broad array of on-campus housing options are available for returning students,’ Miller said.

By creating on-campus housing options in the four new locations, the housing office will be able to preserve student lounges in each residence hall, so fewer have to be converted into dorm rooms, Miller said. Last fall, SU had to convert some lounges in residence halls into dorm rooms to appease the large incoming class, according to an Aug. 31 article in The Daily Orange.

These changes, however, may please students more than the thought of living in a converted lounge. Eddie Zaremba, a sophomore entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises major, said he thinks the new housing options will be popular among students.

‘That would be awesome, living in the Sheraton,’ Zaremba said.

Pricing for each new housing option will not be available until late February, but the rate for the open doubles with bathrooms in the Sheraton and Parkview will be comparable to on-campus rates for that type of room, Miller said. The Park Point and UV apartment packages will be similar to the rates for students who have already signed leases, but they will only be available in 10-month leases, Miller said.

‘The only main difference is Syracuse (University) will be listed as the guarantor when typically the parent is listed as the guarantor,’ said Marybeth Gayne, Park Point general manager.

The university approached Park Point officials with the proposition of leasing out the remaining rooms some time in October or November, Gayne said. With the surplus of remaining rooms at Park Point and the need for more on-campus housing at SU, it was a mutual agreement from the beginning, Gayne said.

‘With all the renewals and applications we had taken, we had 88 rooms remaining,’ Gayne said, ‘and they asked if we could have the remaining ones, so we are full right now.’

In addition, students living in Park Point through the university will receive all the same utilities and amenities as the students who have already signed on to live in the apartments next year, Gayne said.

Matt Burkett, community manager of UV Apartments, and Rob Benetti, general manager of the Parkview Hotel, could not be reached for comment by The Daily Orange.

For students living at the Sheraton next year, all of the hotel’s furnishings will more than likely continue to include the double beds and televisions, Sheraton general manager David Heymann said. The bedding and towels will not be part of the package, as students would have to provide their own if they were living in a residence hall, he said.

‘I don’t think that we will take our furniture, but I think there’s a possibility that the university could add a wardrobe or an additional table,’ Heymann said.

The Sheraton housed students before in 2005, and Heymann said the hotel has a good relationship with the university.

The addition of more than 300 beds in four different locations means the university has found a way to provide sufficient housing for next fall, Miller said.

Said Miller: ‘We are certainly excited in the demand for Syracuse University.’

mcooperj@syr.edu

Published on January 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Mark: mcooperj@syr.edu | @mark_cooperjr