FAMU acquires apartment complex to expand student housing
Photo by Glenn Beil/FAMU Office of Communications
By Andrew J. Skerritt
FAMU Office of Communications
Florida A&M University purchase of the 116-bed Citivue Apartments at Railroad Square to expand students’ on-campus housing options.
The $12.7 million acquisition is located at 600 Eugenia Street on the northwest perimeter of the Tallahassee campus. It sits a short distance east of the 118-bed Light House at Brooklyn Yard apartment complex, acquired by the University last October. The two apartment complexes will be called Rattler Pointe East and Rattler Pointe West, respectively.
Federal funding paid for the acquisition, which was announced last Wednesday. The U.S. Department of Education approved the proposal to use Higher Education Emergency Relief Funds grants for Construction, Renovation and Real Property projects to purchase the 57-unit, seven-building complex.
“This is another significant step in the life of our university. Providing quality housing for our students is in keeping with our mission and strategic priorities,” said President Larry Robinson, who thanked the members of the administrative staff including, Executive Director of Title III Programs Erick Akins, and Title III Programs Special Projects Coordinator Delores Glover, who worked closely with our Student Housing, Finance, Facilities, and Legal teams to make this happen. “We also extend our gratitude to the U.S Department of Education. Without their financial support, this acquisition would not have occurred.”
The new acquisition enables the university to provide more on-campus housing for first-time-in-college and returning students at a time when skyrocketing rents in Tallahassee have driven up the cost of attending the university. Rents at Citivue range from $590 to $674 monthly.
Presently, the university operates six residence halls – Polkinghorne Villages, Samson & Young, Phase III, and Palmetto South containing 2,450 beds. The two additions bring the total number of beds offered by the university to 2,684.
In recent months, several outdated residence halls have been taken offline and or demolished. As part of the university’s master plan, the goal is to add 2,000 more on-campus housing units in the coming years.
Vice President for Student Affairs William E. Hudson, Jr. said this acquisition should be viewed in the context of the university’s master plan, which calls for FAMU to provide on-campus housing for about 45 percent of its students, which would be more than 4,000 beds.
“This gives us the opportunity to continue enhancing our housing portfolio,” said Hudson, who addressed members of the local media at the complex about 24 hours after the university closed on the purchase. “This is only a phase. We have other plans to continue to increase our on-campus housing. We began this process years ago. This is the fruit of our labor.”
