FOCUS: UB HOUSING
UB student population shifting from University Heights to Amherst
New off-campus complexes near Amherst campus attract students
The Villas at Chestnut Ridge, a student housing complex that opened this month in Amherst, lures University at Buffalo students with such deluxe amenities as private bathrooms, a full gym and free tanning beds.
Buffalo’s University Heights neighborhood near the UB South Campus offers students cheap rent, nearby bars and shops, and freedom from patroling security guards.
But the student population living near the South Campus is declining, while Amherst’s student housing market is bustling.
University Heights used to be one of few options for students living off-campus and away from their parents, but new complexes like the Villas are changing that — and that means the communities in Amherst and University Heights are changing, too.
UB data shows a shift in the concentration of students living off-campus. “I guess I’m not at all surprised by the change, given the growth of the campus community in Amherst,” said Dennis Black, UB’s vice president of student affairs.
From 2004 to last year, Amherst’s off-campus student population has increased 3.6 percent, to 2,761.
“It only stands to reason that if you get more people and you start to grow you’re going to get more of everything,” Amherst Council Member Daniel Ward said. “You’ll get the benefits, but you’re also going to get more of the issues.”
In the same time, the student population of University Heights has decreased by 9 percent, to 3,350 last year.
“Part of it is the crime,” said Michael Birkby, a UB law student. “And a lot of the apartments available aren’t really apartments, they’re really just rooms in houses.”
Street presence lost
While the Heights is still a popular place for students, longtime shop owner Jonathan Welch said it isn’t what it used to be.
“It seems, anyway, there are fewer students living in this neighborhood, certainly than there were 30 years ago, and it seems than there were 10 years ago,” said Welch, who owns Talking Leaves bookstore. He said he misses the days when bright young faces and backpacks were seen on Main Street more often.
“That’s one of the things we’ve definitely lost with the loss of the student population: the significant street presence, which is a definite loss, at least to my mind,” he said.
Robert McDow, a UB graduate student, cited an absentee landlord who failed to remedy the shoddy condition of his property as one reason for moving out of University Heights.
McDow, who moved to Elmwood Avenue and North Street, also said the South Campus neighborhood lacked the variety of restaurants and shops he finds in his new location.
Birkby also said a string of violent crimes had persuaded him not to move to University Heights after living in UB’s Flint Village apartments for a year.
He opted for Allentown, instead. Waiting for a bus on the UB South Campus to complete a 45-minute commute to North Campus, he said living in his own apartment in an urban area is worth the long trek to class.
“After 8 or 9 o’clock, there’s not a whole lot open down here,” Birkby said of the Heights area.
Many members of the University Heights community said they had not noticed a decrease in students, and Black said he believed UB’s plans to increase its enrollment ultimately would mean growth in both Amherst and University Heights.
But David J. Ellerbrock of the University Heights Collaborative, a neighborhood booster group, said fewer students might be a good thing.
Permanent homeowners would take better care of the property and not have such loud parties, he said.
“There would be a larger effect, but it’s not clear if that would be a good or bad effect,” he said. “There could be more homeowners who move in and take over the rental properties. We prefer that a property remain homeowner-occupied.”
While some might welcome a decline in the number of students, Simon Chamberlin, a UB senior, was disappointed to hear about a decrease.
“Really?” he said. “That’s unfortunate. They have great parties.”
Paradise in Amherst
Market research by American Campus Communities, the developer of the Villas and nearby University Village, shows that students who move into University Heights are not likely to relocate to Amherst, said Bill Bayless, the company’s chief executive officer.
“When [students] move to University Heights, it is more difficult to get them back,” Bayless said.
Yet for students who value comfort and safety over city life, the Chestnut Ridge Road Villas complex — with its townhouse-style rentals encircling an artificial lake and amenities-packed resident facility — is a student housing paradise.
Amherst’s student population is likely to increase this year since the 552-bed Villas has drawn more applicants than it can accommodate, Bayless said.
He said 80 percent of University Village’s 828 beds have been leased for next year.
American Campus Communities plans to build another complex on Rensch Road, across Sweet Home Road from the North Campus, in the next few years.
Amherst police already have felt the effect of a burgeoning student population, reporting a high rate of 911 calls — 187 in 2006 and 160 in 2007 — from University Village, which opened three years ago.
But Amherst Police Chief John Askey said American Campus Communities’ policy of hiring off-duty police officers to patrol their properties limits the burden on the town’s force.
“What we’ve noticed is, although the number of calls hasn’t necessarily gone down, we’ve noticed a lessening of responsibility for the Police Department,” Askey said.
Development worries
Amherst Council Member Ward said Amherst residents are concerned about new housing straining town services and changing the commercial landscape of the area.
While some welcome more development, others worry that increased traffic will ruin the quiet suburban atmosphere.
Bayless noted that commercial development has followed other American Campus Communities projects across the country.
“We’re building 5,000 beds at Arizona State, and 40,000 square feet of retail is coming in with the housing to help support the student demand there,” he said.
But as development flourishes in Amherst, University Heights residents say years of construction on Main Street hurt the neighborhood commercially.
“The thing that really struck the businesses a few years ago was all the construction on Main Street,” Ellerbrock said.
While “there are a few very stable restaurants and bars on Main Street that are doing quite well,” the district’s problem is “new and interesting stores that are not seeing an incentive to come in,” he said.
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