UB to Dedicate Creekside Village Student Apartment Complex

BUFFALO, N.Y. - The grand opening of Creekside Village, the University at Buffalo's newest student housing complex, will be held at 10 a.m. Aug. 22 in the community building of the complex on Skinnersville Road on the UB North (Amherst) Campus.

The fifth apartment-style complex to be built for student housing by UB in five years at no cost to New York State taxpayers, Creekside Village will open this month for graduate and professional students, including married students. The five projects have provided fully furnished apartments for 2,170 students that did not exist five years ago.

The $11 million Creekside Village project, sponsored by the University at Buffalo Foundation and UB Alumni Association, is comprised of 13 two-story buildings featuring 102 two-bedroom townhouse units and 14 two-bedroom ranch-style units for a total designed occupancy of 232. Seven of the buildings are located along the west side of Bizer Creak on the northern edge of the North Campus near the Ellicott Complex, with six buildings -- plus the community building -- located on the east side of the creek.

UB President William R. Greiner and Dennis R. Black, vice president for student affairs, will make opening and closing remarks at the dedication ceremony.

The event also will include remarks by Jeremy M. Jacobs, chair of the University at Buffalo Council, and Reginald B. Newman II, chair of the University at Buffalo Foundation Board of Trustees. Also scheduled to speak are Margaret W. Paroski, president of the UB Alumni Association; Robert J. Kaczorowski, senior mechanical engineer with the Amherst firm of Robson & Woese Inc., and Tommy T. Welch, a graduate student in elementary education and a resident of Creekside Village.

Also speaking will be given by James A. Allen, executive director of the Amherst Industrial Development Agency; James W. Manguso, senior partner with Lauer-Manguso & Associates, the project's architect, and Robert A. Savarino, president of ADF Construction Inc., general contractor.

A reception will follow the opening ceremony, and tours of the new complex will be provided.

Creekside Village is designed to meet what Black calls a "huge demand" for housing for graduate, professional and married students. While other residential complexes that have been constructed during the university's recent building boom house some graduate and professional students, only one -- Flickinger Court -- is devoted solely to those students and also offers space for students with families, both graduate and undergraduate.

Black added that 30 of the 232 beds in the complex have been set aside for students in the Law School, similar to the special living and learning environment for law students in the Flint Village complex.

All apartments have 1,000 square feet of living space, with a living room, kitchen, two bedrooms and a full bath. The two-story townhouse units also feature a half-bath. Each fully furnished unit has a washer and dryer; a full kitchen with all appliances, including a dishwasher and microwave; central air-conditioning; high-speed computer data ports, and campus cable television.

The project features many "green design" elements that significantly reduce or eliminate negative impacts of buildings on the environment and residents. In fact, the community building has been constructed to meet requirements for certification as a Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED(tm)) building -- the first such structure in Western New York.

Creekside Village is the fifth housing project erected recently by UB as part of the university's long-term plan to provide housing for students and improve their quality of life. The $82 million in housing construction has been accomplished without any cost to New York State taxpayers.

In each case, the project has been sponsored by the University at Buffalo Foundation, working with private architects and contractors and financing secured through local municipalities. Rental fees paid by students -- comparable to the cost of living in a dorm -- will pay off the financing. The UB Alumni Association has been a sponsor with the Creekside Village, South Lake Village and Flint Village projects.

Flickinger Court, located at Chestnut Ridge and Sweet Home roads near the North Campus, opened in Fall 1998 and houses 230 graduate and professional students. Hadley Village followed in 1999, providing apartment-style housing for 620 undergraduate students on the North Campus. South Lake Village, which houses 552 undergraduate and graduate students along the south shore of Lake LaSalle, opened in 2000. Flint Village, located on Augspurger Road just south of the academic Spine, opened in 2001. It provides housing for 536 upper-division undergraduate students and graduate students. Two of the village's nine buildings are reserved for law students.

Next on the housing horizon, according to Black, is a significant rehabilitation of Goodyear Hall on the South (Main Street) Campus, slated to begin in Summer 2003. That project will include upgraded heating, hot water and electrical systems in the building and the creation of two-bedroom efficiency apartments on the ninth floor. Further work will be done in the summer of 2004, he added.