It’s a tight fit for USC
As USC attracts a substantially higher number of students from out of the state and nation, more students are moving into areas around the campus that used to be considered too distant or too unsafe, and developers are eagerly courting renters willing to pay for the convenience of skateboarding to chemistry class.
The results have included complicated demographic shifts, zoning disputes and debates about how to balance the needs of USC’s burgeoning off-campus residential population with those of longtime residents, including middle-class homeowners and low-income renters.
“We’ve really seen a sea change in demand for student housing in the neighborhood,” said David Roberts, an economic development deputy for the 8th City Council district, which includes neighborhoods near USC.
Whether in gorgeously restored Craftsman-style mansions or cockroach-ridden 1960s-era apartments or single attic rooms, about 8,000 USC students live in private housing within half a mile of school, a population that officials estimate may be double that of a decade ago. Those students live mainly in the North University Park district, between the campus and the Santa Monica Freeway. An estimated 2,000 more reportedly live in downtown apartments and lofts.
A USC-commissioned analysis estimated that USC students spent $192 million last year for off-campus housing.
For example, Ryan Tunnell and three friends share a cramped two-bedroom apartment with a high rent: $2,680 a month divided by four, plus utilities.
Still, after being squeezed out of USC campus housing and searching months for a place within an easy bicycle ride of school, the group was relieved to snag the flat at the Carolina, a 24-unit building on Ellendale Place that was renovated two years ago to cater to student lifestyles. Besides touting its barbecue patio and plentiful bike racks, advertising for the Carolina declares that commutes to the Tommy Trojan statue on campus take four minutes by bike and 18 minutes by foot.
“If you are busy, you can just roll out of bed and go where you want to go: a morning or afternoon class or a speaking event on campus at night,” said Tunnell, a finance major.
Tunnell’s hunt for housing relatively close to campus reflects transformations at the university and dramatic changes in the neighborhoods north and west of the school. Evidence is easy to spot, even on streets north of Adams Boulevard and west of Vermont Avenue that students once disdained. Banners for student rentals proclaim free Internet service, and driveways are packed with bicycles and high-end cars.
The demand for student housing also plays a strong role in an unusual federal lawsuit in which USC and a developer accuse Tunnell’s landlord, Conquest Student Housing, of monopolistic and racketeering tactics in trying to dominate the lucrative student market. Conquest’s interference, the suit alleges, has delayed construction of a large privately built complex, called University Gateway, that is to house 1,600 students near the Shrine Auditorium, at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Figueroa Street, across from the campus. The city of Los Angeles is trying to get a better handle on the student housing situation near USC.
Eighth District Councilman Bernard Parks is working on new city rules aimed at slowing a recent real estate rush in which investors buy old houses and apartment buildings, evict low-income families and, after renovations or new construction, bring in students at much higher rents. The proposed regulations would create a special housing district in which extra parking would be required for apartments with five or more bedrooms and more city review would be mandated for conversions to student apartments.
In one controversial case, the Southern Assets firm tore down two single-family houses on West 37th Place west of Vermont Avenue and last year built a modern dorm-like structure that the landlord says can house 56. Neighbors complain that it is out of scale and lacks enough parking.
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Increased density
To counter development on such side streets, the city is trying to encourage student housing, like University Gateway, along Figueroa and other major thoroughfares, where the parties, cars and transient tenants won’t matter as much. This year the city raised residential densities allowed along parts of Figueroa.
“We certainly should not be running people out of the neighborhood for student housing,” Parks said.
USC, which controls the ground lease for the Gateway project, also wants such new large buildings along Figueroa, said Michael Jackson, USC’s vice president for student affairs. On side streets, the school supports more student housing only if it “fits into the architecture and scale of a residential neighborhood,” he said.
But in some places that may be too late, according to the Rev. Brian Eklund, pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Evangelical Church, across Vermont from USC.
Low-income congregants have been forced out by rising rents and evictions to make way for students, he said. Sunday church attendance has dropped from about 200 seven years ago to 140 now. Neighborhood elementary schools report enrollment declines, too.
“As a church, we’ve really seen the death of neighborhood,” Eklund said. “We are very nervous about what little bit is left in the neighborhood and how to maintain what little piece we have.”
Much of the trend is driven by USC’s rising national and international reputation and by the fact that the university provides housing for only about 7,000 of its 33,000 students.
About half the student body now hails from out of the state and the country, double the share a decade ago. Foreign students last year numbered 7,115, the most of any U.S. university. In addition, more and more local students would rather walk to the USC library than fight freeway traffic to get there.
USC added 900 new dorm beds in the last three years and placed about 200 freshmen in the Radisson Hotel it owns across from campus. The school, which has long faced community suspicions because of its extensive properties beyond its formal boundaries, may replace some of its low-rise student apartments near Jefferson with denser complexes. But for now, USC guarantees university-owned housing only to freshmen and sophomores.
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‘We are changing’
“Whether or not we like it, we are changing from a commuter campus,” said Sahil Chaudry, president of USC’s undergraduate student government. He and other student leaders are organizing legal aid and other resources to address students’ rising complaints about high rents and poor maintenance at privately owned buildings.
Some students rent from landlords with a guesthouse or spare bedroom, but increasingly they deal with large companies, such as Cal Student Housing, which runs 28 buildings near USC.
Conquest Student Housing reports that it houses more than 1,400 students in 19 new and restored buildings within walking distance of USC and that it has no vacancies. Last year it opened the Tuscany, a luxury-style complex on Figueroa for 512 students that has a swimming pool, gym, balconies and a concierge desk.
Chaudry shares a two-bedroom, two-bath unit at the Tuscany with three friends; each pays $815 a month, plus utilities. The amenities and location are sweet but the price is too steep, said Chaudry, who decided not to commute from his family’s Pacific Palisades home so he could have “that college experience.”
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‘Nice places’ sought
“The problem is a lack of these nice places,” Chaudry said of the Tuscany. “That’s why they can charge so much.”
But some students, particularly foreign students, live in grittier settings.
Three engineering graduate students from India, for example, each pay about $330 a month to share a run-down two-room bungalow behind a larger house on West 25th Street. The decor could be called “Early Mattresses on the Floor.”
“For the time being, this house is sufficient for us,” said one of the residents, Prabuddh Gupta, an electrical engineering major. “We don’t spend much time here since we are mainly at school and the lab.”
Some neighborhood leaders contend that USC relies too much on private landlords. The university should build more dorms and should be more responsible “for how students are behaving,” said Michael Urena, president of the North Area Neighborhood Development Council and a technology manager at USC.
USC won’t have a direct say in student life at University Gateway, but the codes of conduct will be similar to those in USC-owned apartments, according to the developers, the Urban Partners of Los Angeles.
The complex, including stores and eateries, originally was scheduled to open next fall but it has been delayed, its backers say, by a slew of legal and environmental challenges from Conquest. Among other things, Conquest accuses Urban Partners of not conducting sufficient environmental studies and not planning enough parking.
Matt Burton, an Urban Partners principal, said Conquest’s efforts have cost his company millions but that University Gateway, with a current cost of $160 million, will open for the 2010-11 school year.
The lawsuit filed in September by Urban Partners and USC calls Conquest’s challenges unwarranted and contends Conquest also is trying to stop other Urban Partners projects far from the USC area. The suit also alleges that Conquest is trying to intimidate other potential competitors; it includes a declaration by another developer who said a Conquest official likened Conquest to Al Qaeda and talked of how easy it would be to build a bomb, a comment the rival took to be a threat.
Conquest principals Alan Smolinisky, a USC alumnus, and Brian Chen did not respond to requests for interviews. In court filings, their lawyers are seeking to have the lawsuit dismissed, saying the plaintiffs want to squelch Conquest’s 1st Amendment rights of free speech.
Meanwhile, at the Carolina, Tunnell and his roommates are making do with a small kitchen and bedrooms so cramped that “it is sort of a miracle we fit two beds and two desks,” he said. Still, they enjoy being close to the academic and party scene.
They warn students losing their dorm guarantee next fall not to delay a housing search. “During the winter break is probably a good time to get started looking for next year,” Tunnell advised.
“There’s a limited selection and no guarantee you’ll get what you want.”
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