Side Story
Drives and distance over close-to-campus housing? A Westie vs. Eastie mentality? Here's where students choose to live in Lawrence and why.
By Marissa Stephenson, Jayplay writer
Erik Johnson nestles farther down into his blue-and orange-checkered armchair and smiles. "Yeah, people might think of us as the Beverly Hills of Lawrence," he says laughing. The Bloomington, Minn., senior is describing his apartment at The Legends, 4101 W. 24th Place, where the armchair – and every other piece of furniture – came with the now year-old apartment complex. The car detail center, swimming pool and year-round Jacuzzi, BBQ pits, clubhouse complete with fitness center, craft room, computer room and a continental breakfast nook with a big-screen television isn't too shabby either. "The Legends. The name itself sounds a little cocky, a little brash," Johnson says, then shrugs. "But I have everything I need here."
Last year, Johnson lived at 1720 Louisiana St., in a house he describes as "the ugliest green building in Lawrence." He and his five roommates watched mice run through the rooms in the winter and heard squirrels in the attic in the summer. When leasing time came around, Johnson was ready to pay for the smell of fresh paint and new carpet. He signed at The Legends and his commute went from being a short walk to campus to a 10-minute drive from pricier digs. Johnson says the move to West Lawrence was perfect for him. He isn't the only one.
West Lawrence apartment complex capacities, as well as University of Kansas parking statistics and enrollment figures, point to a fresh wave of KU students packing their bags and heading west. Choosing from a saturated Lawrence apartment market, students are picking places farther from campus and often, more expensive than their east-side counterparts. Garth Myers, associate professor of geography, says Lawrence's "student hearth" — that vital, kickin' nucleus of college-aged tenants — is shifting westward. The answers to why this trend is happening and whether it's creating an Outsiders-esque social stereotype are on the minds of students on both sides of Iowa Street.
West Flight
When The Legends apartment complex opened last fall, it rented out half its 200unit capacity. Now there's a waiting list to move in next August. And The Legends isn't the only West Lawrence complex filling up - Parkway Commons, 3601 Clinton Parkway, Lorimar Townhomes, 3801 Clinton Parkway, and Courtside Townhomes, 4100 Clinton Parkway, say they've been operating at 100 percent capacity for the last few years. Representatives for Jefferson Commons, 2511 W.31st St., and Aberdeen Apartments and Townhomes, 2300 Wakarusa Drive, say 2003 marked their highest leasing percentage to date. Yet these glowing rental numbers come amidst a grossly over-built apartment market in Lawrence. Corey Brinkerhoff, owner of Brinkerhoff Realtors in Lawrence, says the onslaught of new apartment construction has tipped the apartment-to-renter ratio. In 2003, Brinkerhoff says Lawrence had the highest rental vacancy in his 25 years in the business. With reports of 100 percent capacity, the vacancy majority isn't in West Lawrence.
Another indicator of a close-to-campus exodus: yellow parking permits. Yellow permits typically ride with the students farthest from campus, and from 2001 to 2002, the KU parking department sold 5,992. From 2002 to 2003, it sold 8,113 yellow permits, a 2,121-permit jump. In that same year, University enrollment increased by 356 students, but the number of students living on campus went down 360. In simple speak: More students are choosing to live off campus, and somewhere that requires a drive. Brinkerhoff says it's the allure of modern and new, over close-to-campus convenience, that has students moving. "Just look at what's happening," Brinkerhoff says. "Students are voting with their rent checks and getting farther and farther away from the University."
The West Lawrence migration is clear-cut logic — new and newer is always more attractive than old, Brinkerhoff says. "People have an aversion to dirt. An occupant wants to think he's the first person to muck a place up," he says. That doesn't necessarily mean houses and apartments in the "student ghetto" — the traditionally student-occupied streets east of campus automatically have a strike against them. Rebuilding and renovation draws renters too, and if it smells like new and looks like new, it's as good as new, Brinkerhoff says. But with a flood of new West Lawrence apartments renting out in record numbers, rebuilding is a risky option for East Lawrence landlords. With waiting lists increasing in West Lawrence, there's no guarantee their rebuilding efforts will bring students back. Brinkerhoff says Lawrence would have seen more redevelopment near campus if it wasn't for the West Lawrence blitz, which is influencing students' choices. "What I see is students choosing a relatively inconvenient location because they don't want to live in someone else's dirt."