FAMU purchases duplexes, apartments, condos to house students
Florida A&M University spent $12.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to add 118 beds.
Florida A&M University (FAMU) will increase student housing options after closing a deal to purchase properties near the campus, WCTV reports.
The university used $12.6 million from the U.S. Department of Education to increase its housing stock by 118 beds.
The move comes after the Board of Trustees (BOT) approved a proposal for the administration to make the purchases, according to an August FAMU news release.
FAMU President Larry Robinson said talks to add more on-campus beds began in the spring, according to WCTV. The increase comes after a surge in student enrollment led to a waitlist for on-campus housing, which adversely impacted incoming freshmen at the start of the 2022 school year.
“This provides a short-term solution that will have long-term implications,” Robinson said, according to the news release, during an August meeting of the BOT’s Budget, Finance and Facilities Committee.
The 14 duplexes (24 beds), 32 apartments (52 beds ) and 14 condos (42) are located along Eugenia and Conklin streets as well as Rattler Court, which is north of FAMU.
Currently, 75% of the residents living in these properties are students. (The remaining tenants will likely have to find other housing options in the next school year).
“For years, we have been trying to figure out a way to give FAMU a presence in the northwest area near the train tracks where development has occurred,” Robinson said. “This will give us a footprint beyond our present campus boundary. It is a highly visible and very productive area of the community,”
Vice President for Student Affairs Williams E. Hudson Jr., Ph.D., also noted that the new student housing “is part of the master plan and the continuing effort to provide affordable housing. We are planning for the future.”
FAMU SGA President Zachary Bell, who used to live in one of the units that is now considered university housing, expressed excitement about its new status. “It is so good to see this is a part of FAMU to be a residence Hall, and I cannot wait to connect my memories that I have here at this apartment with those of future Rattlers,” he told WCTV.
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