Spring Break
Oak Place: university owned and regulated apartment living
Megan Henderson
Issue date: 1/14/08 Section: News
The Twin Oaks apartments are becoming a distant memory to those who knew them. The new buzz on the west side of campus is the new Oak Place Apartments.
Building apartments rather than dorms is part of the overall plan to offer students a full range of housing options, said Bob Simmons, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Facilities.
"We have the residence halls. … We have houses in the neighborhood where older students, graduate students, can have a more independent living environment," Simmons said. "What the Oak Place Apartments does is it provides that upper division student and graduate student housing for people that maybe don't want to be in a house. It's just a really key part of us as we grow to be a more residential campus to really be able to offer all of the different housing options to students."
Apartments at Oak Place are one-, two- or four-bedroom units. Each room in the unit has its own bathroom. This setup is part of an emerging model in college housing, Simmons said.
"Basically in a four-bedroom apartment, each of you have four individual leases, so that, say one of my roommates drops out in the semester, I don't have to suddenly start to pick up their part of the lease," Simmons said. "And if I can't find a friend who wants to move in, in order for me to not pick up that part of the lease what the landlord can do is they can then lease that single unit to somebody else."
All leases are 12 months at Oak Place Apartments. Parking is separate from UMKC parking and requires a different pass.
Traditional freshmen will not be allowed to reside in the apartments, Simmons said. Graduate students have first priority, followed by upper-division students. Once all UMKC applications for apartments have been taken care of, if units are still open, Oak Place Apartments has the option of leasing to Rockhurst or Kansas City Art Institute students. After that, priority will go to UMKC faculty and staff. If units still remain available, Oak Place can begin to market to the general public. Residents are all required to abide by university rules, Simmons said.
Building apartments rather than dorms is part of the overall plan to offer students a full range of housing options, said Bob Simmons, Assistant Vice Chancellor for Campus Facilities.
"We have the residence halls. … We have houses in the neighborhood where older students, graduate students, can have a more independent living environment," Simmons said. "What the Oak Place Apartments does is it provides that upper division student and graduate student housing for people that maybe don't want to be in a house. It's just a really key part of us as we grow to be a more residential campus to really be able to offer all of the different housing options to students."
Apartments at Oak Place are one-, two- or four-bedroom units. Each room in the unit has its own bathroom. This setup is part of an emerging model in college housing, Simmons said.
"Basically in a four-bedroom apartment, each of you have four individual leases, so that, say one of my roommates drops out in the semester, I don't have to suddenly start to pick up their part of the lease," Simmons said. "And if I can't find a friend who wants to move in, in order for me to not pick up that part of the lease what the landlord can do is they can then lease that single unit to somebody else."
All leases are 12 months at Oak Place Apartments. Parking is separate from UMKC parking and requires a different pass.
Traditional freshmen will not be allowed to reside in the apartments, Simmons said. Graduate students have first priority, followed by upper-division students. Once all UMKC applications for apartments have been taken care of, if units are still open, Oak Place Apartments has the option of leasing to Rockhurst or Kansas City Art Institute students. After that, priority will go to UMKC faculty and staff. If units still remain available, Oak Place can begin to market to the general public. Residents are all required to abide by university rules, Simmons said.
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