They advertise "luxury" living for college students, including single bedrooms, kitchens with granite countertops and stunning city views. With four projects completed or under way, privately owned student residence halls are on the upswing in Chicago, but so far their rate of success has been decidedly mixed. Loft-Right has been plagued with student complaints about noise, leaky windows and other issues since it opened last year on the edge of DePaul's Lincoln Park campus.
Students left the building in droves, and the dorm is now less than 60 percent full. The situation is so bad that two weeks ago Moody's Investors Service downgraded the project's bond rating and warned investors about its financial stability.
A similar privately owned dorm that opened recently near the University of Illinois at Chicago is also well below capacity. Still, the growing demand for student housing in the city has led to additional projects, including a 750-bed private dorm being built in the South Loop for Columbia College.
When it opened, Loft-Right's edgy design and independent living for students won praise. With 580 beds, it was 93 percent full last year. But students -- who pay as much as $2,000 a month for a room in a two-bedroom apartment -- soon brought a myriad of complaints, and some students dubbed it "Loft-Wrong."
The not-for-profit owners, MJH Education Assistance Illinois, ended up spending $300,000 to caulk gaps between walls and windows, add carpeting, insert acoustical foam in the ceiling and increase Internet capacity. MJH president Ben Noble said funding for an endowed professor's position at DePaul -- paid for by dorm revenues -- is in jeopardy. But he said the project is not closing and there are no plans to raise room rates.
Last month, MJH terminated its contract with the property managers, The Scion Group. Many students felt "management wasn't responsive to the concerns of residents," Noble said. Scion's president, Robert Bronstein, "adamantly disagrees" and said his group resigned.
DePaul student Brittany Briscoe, 20, one of only 85 students who returned to the building this year, said new management company ICL Management is responsive to complaints. She said she can no longer hear such sounds as her next-door neighbor sneezing.
Scion is now manager and part owner of Automatic Lofts, across the expressway from UIC. With 480 beds, it opened this semester and has students from several different schools, though it's only about half-full.
Building General Manager Jared Reynolds said they haven't received any complaints similar to Loft-Right's. Despite the low occupancy, Bronstein said the project is doing fine for its first year and believes it will fill up soon.
Source: Sun Times