By Rebekah Kunz
After two years of planning, Alpine Village - a joint venture between BYU and New Star LLC - is underway.
Tuesday''s groundbreaking for Alpine Village began the construction on a $40 million complex that will be located on the lot where Reams used to stand on Freedom Blvd.
Following in Centennial Apartments'' footsteps, Alpine Village is going to be BYU charter housing. It will open Fall 2007.
Charter housing is a new concept that blends on-campus housing benefits with off-campus benefits in an attempt to prepare for the 2007 boundary changes for BYU approved housing.
Being only a few blocks from campus, Alpine Village will fall in the new two-mile radius.
Though Alpine Village and Centennial Apartments will both be considered charter housing, there are ownership differences between the two.
'This is a first, with privately owned condos that are jointly managed,' said Dave Hatton, a New Star general partner.
The units will be under the joint direction of BYU and the individual condo owners.
According to Preston Gray, an independent contractor who is involved in the project, Alpine Village has made an agreement that the housing will be for BYU students.
Gray said if they can fill 90 percent of the units with BYU students, but can''t fill the rest, they have the option to open the remaining spots to non-BYU students.
In order to comply with the Honor Code the tenants will be divided by gender, with separate buildings for males and females.
The condos that will make up Alpine Village will be for single students and have four private rooms and two bathrooms for each unit.
The complex will have a pool, exercise room, volleyball and basketball court and other amenities.
Other extra amenities that Alpine Village will offer include eight commercial units that will house student-oriented shopping opportunities.
Parking has also been a consideration for Alpine Village. Parking will be provided for a high majority of the tenants, by utilizing above and underground parking. Visitor parking will also be available in the commercial unit areas.
In the quest to blend on-campus and off-campus benefits, charter housing complexes will have peer staff members.
'On-site staff will provide information and understanding about BYU policies and the services that are offered by BYU, like One-Stop,' said BYU spokesperson, Carri Jenkins.
Gray estimates that in the complex there will be one peer staff member for every 75-100 tenants.
According to the Centennial Apartments'' manager, Gaylun Smith, the peer staff that will be there this fall will assist the tenants with having more opportunity to interact with the management.
Smith said the peer staff wouldn''t be responsible for cleaning checks or inspections like with what is done on on-campus housing, but that they would be there purely to help other tenants and assist in bettering communication with the office.
Kunz@byu.edu
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