Dartmouth undergraduates who want to live off-campus next year will likely notice fewer apartments available in downtown Hanover.
This summer, the College entered an agreement to purchase 19 residential buildings from Hanover Investment Corporation, and the College will need to make improvements to bring the buildings up to code Dean of Residential Life Martin Redman said.
The buildings currently house approximately 100 Dartmouth students. Current tenants have been notified that their leases will not be renewed.
"The prognosis is probably not good," Redman said of the short-term. "A majority [of the apartments] won't be rentable until Fall term or later."
The property transfer, set to be completed this July, is contingent upon structural and other minor repairs to the buildings, Redman said. A third-party report on the physical condition of the properties is expected soon.
Since the rental properties will not be available, on-campus housing will need to accommodate more students than before.
The opening of the new East Wheelock dormitory will house 80 students starting next fall, offsetting an estimated 20-30 beds lost to recent renovations. This will result in a net gain of 50 beds on campus, according to the Office of Residential Life.
Students caught with no place to live may be placed in other Dartmouth-owned rental properties.
Director of Real Estate Paul Olsen said he is considering the possibility of overflow of on-campus housing.
"We've been talking about [campus housing] overflow," Olsen said.
If all the residential units are closed for temporary repairs, "which is a possibility in the short term," some students may have to use other Dartmouth rental properties such as a building on West Wheelock, he said.
Some students said this purchase agreement signals more pervasive Dartmouth influence where it is not wanted.
"I enjoy living as independently as I do," Rob Auten '00 said. "I don't feel the need for the College to come through and 'mommy' me. There is educational value connected to paying your own bills and doing your own maintenance and dealing with the landlord."
Responding to concerns that Safety & Security might increase patrols over the newly purchased areas of Hanover, Dean Redman said, "Residential Life has no desire to take over control of these buildings in any way, shape or form" and that S&S presence in the area would likely be "minimal at best."
According to ORL figures, 10 to 12 percent of Dartmouth students -- about 400-450 students -- would like to live off-campus. Over 600 students have lived off-campus in the past.
"We send letters saying, 'at the moment we have no place to put you [on-campus],'" Redman said.
"The number of students who really want to live in town is [lower] than the total number living in town, because we don't have enough beds for them [on campus]," Dean Redman said.
However, some students see the situation a little differently.
"Students like myself have lived off-campus by choice, but now we may be forced to live on campus," Gregory Patselas '00 said. "I have never met anyone who lives off-campus who says they have been forced to do so."
Some benefits of living off-campus include the ability to avoid DarTalk, freedom to stay through break while the campus dorms are locked and convenient parking, Robert Mitchell '00 said.
