DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 17, 2019 22:02:23 GMT -5
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Post by reformation on Aug 18, 2019 13:26:30 GMT -5
Interesting, wonder if Gtwn admin follows developments like these at other univ's. Was having lunch at beach with friends recently and wife of one of my friends commented how the parents of the kids going to gtown from her kids hs(3) all thought that gtown had by far the worst housing of any college they had visited--otherwise they were quite happy with their kids going to Gtwn!
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Nevada Hoya
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Post by Nevada Hoya on Aug 18, 2019 16:05:00 GMT -5
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 18, 2019 16:25:20 GMT -5
Interesting, wonder if Gtwn admin follows developments like these at other univ's. Was having lunch at beach with friends recently and wife of one of my friends commented how the parents of the kids going to gtown from her kids hs(3) all thought that gtown had by far the worst housing of any college they had visited--otherwise they were quite happy with their kids going to Gtwn! It has a lot of administrative interest. The space race that nearly tripled on campus housing from 1975-1990 (Henle, Villages A/B/C, LXR) now comes with the cost of deferred maintenance, an expense no amount of philanthropy will actively support. Georgetown can't close one or more of these dorms to address all the issues so it's patchwork. In a meeting I attended last year, a topic was raised to what I was unaware of but that visitors notice right away--the grounds are in poor shape. We all look up at Healy and think all is right in the world, but the grounds are a hodge-podge of asphalt, concrete, bricks, gravel, blacktop, and in some cases, dirt as you walk around the place. There is little or no signage if you are a visitor. Parts of Copley Lawn do not drain properly after it rains, and the issue of vermin and other pests gets attention in social media. How do you address this? Well, one way would be to close the whole campus in the summer and bring in the heavy machinery to do it right (assuming the funds are there), but GU is wary of turning away the visitors, summer school students, high school students, and other summer tenants which provide auxiliary revenue. It's like public transit work--if you close the subway line for repair, it's six months of aggravation. If you go with repair on nights and weekends, it takes years, and if you keep covering over the cracks, it merely delays the inevitable. And FWIW, the Healy building is approaching 150 years old in the next decade, and there's parts of that building which need some serious work. How much is that renovation going to cost? |
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Aug 19, 2019 0:59:07 GMT -5
Interesting, wonder if Gtwn admin follows developments like these at other univ's. Was having lunch at beach with friends recently and wife of one of my friends commented how the parents of the kids going to gtown from her kids hs(3) all thought that gtown had by far the worst housing of any college they had visited--otherwise they were quite happy with their kids going to Gtwn! Snowflakes! I lived in St. Mary's in the mid nineties. |
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tashoya
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Post by tashoya on Aug 19, 2019 1:02:12 GMT -5
Interesting, wonder if Gtwn admin follows developments like these at other univ's. Was having lunch at beach with friends recently and wife of one of my friends commented how the parents of the kids going to gtown from her kids hs(3) all thought that gtown had by far the worst housing of any college they had visited--otherwise they were quite happy with their kids going to Gtwn! It has a lot of administrative interest. The space race that nearly tripled on campus housing from 1975-1990 (Henle, Villages A/B/C, LXR) now comes with the cost of deferred maintenance, an expense no amount of philanthropy will actively support. Georgetown can't close one or more of these dorms to address all the issues so it's patchwork. In a meeting I attended last year, a topic was raised to what I was unaware of but that visitors notice right away--the grounds are in poor shape. We all look up at Healy and think all is right in the world, but the grounds are a hodge-podge of asphalt, concrete, bricks, gravel, blacktop, and in some cases, dirt as you walk around the place. There is little or no signage if you are a visitor. Parts of Copley Lawn do not drain properly after it rains, and the issue of vermin and other pests gets attention in social media. How do you address this? Well, one way would be to close the whole campus in the summer and bring in the heavy machinery to do it right (assuming the funds are there), but GU is wary of turning away the visitors, summer school students, high school students, and other summer tenants which provide auxiliary revenue. It's like public transit work--if you close the subway line for repair, it's six months of aggravation. If you go with repair on nights and weekends, it takes years, and if you keep covering over the cracks, it merely delays the inevitable. And FWIW, the Healy building is approaching 150 years old in the next decade, and there's parts of that building which need some serious work. How much is that renovation going to cost? GU should consider finding another property to convert to a dorm and use that as a place-holder for the on-campus dorms that need work. After the upgrades on campus are completed, I'm sure the University would not have any difficulty finding a use for the space. At worst, it could always be sold at a profit. |
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 19, 2019 7:22:47 GMT -5
GU should consider finding another property to convert to a dorm and use that as a place-holder for the on-campus dorms that need work. After the upgrades on campus are completed, I'm sure the University would not have any difficulty finding a use for the space. At worst, it could always be sold at a profit. This was tried in the 1970's and early 1980's (students stayed at Alban Towers near the Cathedral) and the University caught all sorts of grief about it and eventually sold the property. An SFS friend of mine who lived there referred to it as, you guessed it, Albania. dcist.com/story/11/04/24/looking-back-alban-towers/For this to work, you're talking 200 to 400 students a year living off campus, and between the prohibitive cost of real estate in Northwest (the students would likely be housed downtown or even further away where shuttle transportation would need to be provided), the NIMBY factor, and the public relations battle which would ensue (today's parents would raise a stink that their children must endure the pain of off-campus housing when others can stay on campus) it's not a likely alternative. Students can rightly complain about poor conditions but enrollment isn't declining as a result and there is still plenty of demand for on-campus housing. |
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Filo
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Post by Filo on Aug 19, 2019 8:31:52 GMT -5
GU should consider finding another property to convert to a dorm and use that as a place-holder for the on-campus dorms that need work. After the upgrades on campus are completed, I'm sure the University would not have any difficulty finding a use for the space. At worst, it could always be sold at a profit. This was tried in the 1970's and early 1980's (students stayed at Alban Towers near the Cathedral) and the University caught all sorts of grief about it and eventually sold the property. An SFS friend of mine who lived there referred to it as, you guessed it, Albania. dcist.com/story/11/04/24/looking-back-alban-towers/For this to work, you're talking 200 to 400 students a year living off campus, and between the prohibitive cost of real estate in Northwest (the students would likely be housed downtown or even further away where shuttle transportation would need to be provided), the NIMBY factor, and the public relations battle which would ensue (today's parents would raise a stink that their children must endure the pain of off-campus housing when others can stay on campus) it's not a likely alternative. Students can rightly complain about poor conditions but enrollment isn't declining as a result and there is still plenty of demand for on-campus housing. Oh boy, memories. Lived in Alban with 6 friends my sophomore year. I assume we were responsible for the "grief." Had 7 kegs there one night and hundreds of partiers. Elevator broke down, fire department there, etc.. And that was just one incident. LOL. Alban was just too far. We walked it a lot, took GUTS when we could, and 2 roommates had cars there. Wound up crashing on campus an awful lot. We had a blast but it is a tough sell to students to live that remote from campus. |
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DFW HOYA
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Post by DFW HOYA on Aug 19, 2019 9:05:15 GMT -5
Alban was just too far. We walked it a lot, took GUTS when we could, and 2 roommates had cars there. Wound up crashing on campus an awful lot. We had a blast but it is a tough sell to students to live that remote from campus. And that's the problem--Alban Towers was only a mile and a half from campus. The options for a large scale, short-term housing relocation are likely to be much further away (Arlandria, NoMa, even outside the Beltway) and that is sure to cause complaints. Short of putting students up in the old GU Hospital when the new Medstar facility opens, off-campus relocation isn't a popular option and the downtime needed for serious repairs isn't there. |
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LCPolo18
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Post by LCPolo18 on Aug 19, 2019 20:24:08 GMT -5
Alban was just too far. We walked it a lot, took GUTS when we could, and 2 roommates had cars there. Wound up crashing on campus an awful lot. We had a blast but it is a tough sell to students to live that remote from campus. And that's the problem--Alban Towers was only a mile and a half from campus. The options for a large scale, short-term housing relocation are likely to be much further away (Arlandria, NoMa, even outside the Beltway) and that is sure to cause complaints. Short of putting students up in the old GU Hospital when the new Medstar facility opens, off-campus relocation isn't a popular option and the downtime needed for serious repairs isn't there. It’ll be really interesting if the university actually builds student housing on the NoMa site. www.nomabid.org/press-release-georgetown-university-gonzaga-college-high-school-enter-long-term-lease-agreement-55-h-street-nw/At least the students would be close for basketball games. And they could probably open the law center facilities for those students. The concept reminds me of GW’s Mount Vernon campus, but I’m not really sure how receptive GW’s students are of the satellite campus. And as you mentioned, I don’t know how happy Georgetown students would be at a satellite campus. |
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Sept 5, 2019 6:09:28 GMT -5
The concept reminds me of GW’s Mount Vernon campus, but I’m not really sure how receptive GW’s students are of the satellite campus. And as you mentioned, I don’t know how happy Georgetown students would be at a satellite campus. One of my daughter’s friends lived in Mt Vernon her freshman year at GW. She transferred away after that. |
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