Friday, August 12th, 2016
Lake Campus plans for more housing
County commissioners set hearing to discuss funding
By William Kincaid
Photo by Mark Pummell/The Daily Standard
A third student villa is planned at Wright State University-Lake Campus. Western Ohio Educational Foundation officials are asking county commissioners to borrow up to $2 million on their behalf to proceed with the project.
CELINA - Wright State University-Lake Campus officials plan to add a third villa to keep up with demand for student residential housing.
If authorized, the as-yet-to-be-named villa would add 40 beds to the campus. Today, the Knapke and East villas have a combined capacity of 68 students. They sit just west of the campus and consist of townhouse-style apartments.
Mercer County commissioners on Thursday set a public hearing for 11 a.m. Sept. 1 in room A201 of the Mercer County Central Services Building in Celina to discuss plans to help fund a new student dorm near the campus.
They will solicit discussion on a proposal to support the issuance of tax-free economic development revenue bonds on behalf of the Western Ohio Educational Foundation. WOEF board members plan to construct a $2 million student apartment complex.
The county will act as financial conduit for WOEF by supporting the purchase of revenue bonds, likely again with Peoples Bank, according to Lake Campus Business Enterprise Center Director Julie Miller.
WOEF board members do not have the authority to issue bonds and therefore seek to finance the project through the county, Miller said.
If the bonds are approved, proceeds will help finance constructing and equipping the dorm.
Commissioners Jerry Laffin and Rick Muhlenkamp on June 30 moved that the housing loan request could proceed as long as it, among other things, stated the project cost will be WOEF's sole responsibility.
"It should be clearly stated in all the documentation that the borrower has the sole obligation to pay back these bonds and that the bonds are not considered a debt of the county and the county has no obligation or responsibility to make any debt payments on such bonds," the meeting minutes state.
Mercer County commissioners and the bank helped WOEF board members obtain bonds to build the university's first two dormitories, Knapke Villa, completed in the fall of 2011, and East Villa, completed in the fall of 2014.
Miller said officials would like to break ground this fall and would like to see the residence up by the fall semester of 2017.
"Over the past five years we've done a lot of learning about what it means to be a residential campus," Miller said.
Students living on campus last semester came from 21 counties outside of Mercer County and three states outside of Ohio, Miller said.
"Some are coming here because of the programs ... some are coming because they want to play sports or they just like the idea of living on a small residential campus," she said.
Campus enrollment continues to climb, Miller said, noting officials anticipate a 12 percent increase this fall semester resulting in more than 1,400 students.
Miller attributed the campus' growth in large part to its offering of four-year degrees in fields such as nursing, engineering, agriculture and business. No longer do students need to travel to Dayton or elsewhere to complete those degrees, she said.
