ResLife closes six apartment buildings

Demolition set to begin on Hensel University Apartments, July 1

By: Matt Woolbright

Posted: 4/9/09

This summer, six of the Hensel University Apartment buildings, built in 1958, will be demolished to make way for modernized versions.

Construction is set to begin July 1 and the units will be ready for occupancy Aug. 3, 2010. The entire process will result in 250 units in place of the current 72 units.

The Department of Residence Life has acknowledged that this is difficult for the students living there and has made accommodating offers for them.

"This is a big life change for them and I think whatever we can do to go the extra mile would be very beneficial," said Jason Cook, vice president for marketing and communications at Texas A&M.

The first option for the students living in the Hensel T and U buildings, who will be directly affected by this expansion, is transferring to another apartment in the University Apartments system. Residents will pay the same Hensel rental rates and will be receiving one month of free rent. The University has offered its maintenance staff to assist residents in moving furniture to their new apartment.

"No one will be displaced unless they choose to be," said Ron Sasse, the director of residence life.

The second option releases the resident from their contract early, resulting in the full refund of the security deposit; students will receive their last month of rent and electricity free.

Residents must notify the University of which option they are selecting by 5 p.m., April 15, and regardless of option choice, students must be moved out by 5 p.m., June 15.

The decision was made over the course of several years, said university officials. The plan will include new two bedroom/two bathroom and large two bedroom/one bathroom layouts.

"The great thing about it is this will be more in line with more traditional types of living spaces that you have in the community amenity wise," Cook said. "It's going to be a year and a half tight timeline of hardships, but ultimately it's going to be great for the graduate student community here on campus."

Letters were mailed out Friday, phone calls were made to residents affected Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and there will be a meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the University Apartments' Community Center for students to come and ask questions.

Graduate student Abdallah Farraj said there are good and bad aspects to the situation, but he is expecting to understand more after the meeting.

"They have done some things really well, but there's still a lot of unanswered questions, but they will tell us soon," he said.

Even with these notifications, some students say they do not feel they've been given ample time or involvement concerning the issue. Among these students is University Apartment Community Council President Yolanda Jordan, a graduate student.

"I do feel the students needed more time, but [the University] is being as accommodating as they can be," Jordan said. "A lot of students do not feel involved in the decision-making processes, and those are the students directly affected."

Farraj said that he too believes the timeliness could have been better, but has emotional reasons attached.

"I am a little sad I have to leave my apartment that I have been living in for three years now and we did not get much time to be involved in the process," Farraj said.

Residents have less than a month to make their decision on housing and will need to move out in less than three months. Anand Narayanan, student senator for the University Apartments, said that he does not feel the Department of Residence Life is in the wrong.

"The demolition and construction of the University Apartments has been in the minds of the residents for a long time; however, the Department of Residence Life and other concerned authorities had to discuss the options in great detail with consideration of all parties involved," Narayanan said. "Hence the information was sent out to the residents about the demolition recently, but the Department of Residence Life is offering to help the residents in every way they can in this process."