Mark Hudson, director of university housing and dining services, said Monday the University Apartments complex designated for small families and graduate students will undergo major physical changes in the next few years.

The only problem is figuring out what type of changes to make.

Hudson and his colleagues must first decide whether to extensively renovate the existing complex located behind the Wesley United Methodist Church on 4th Street or tear it down and build new apartments at the same site. The 1950s complex includes 154 units.

“We’re still analyzing those options now,” Hudson said. “What we’re trying to do now is decide what’s the better thing to do.”

Before any action can be taken, Hudson said the costs of the two alternatives must be weighed and compared.

“We’re waiting to get a proposal from a developer to get a ballpark figure of how much a new complex would cost,” he said. “We’ve got to look at the numbers. I want to keep the apartments affordable for the residents.”

An informed decision of whether to make major renovations could include a new heating and cooling system and revamped kitchenettes. Plans could also expand to building a new complex once the costs of the two alternatives are examined, Hudson said.

“I would bet we will (make a decision) sometime in the course of this school year,” Hudson said.

Though Hudson said physical results will now be evident for a few years, the apartment complex has seen some recent small-scale renovations.

Kelly Miller, assistant director of university housing and dining services, said some apartments received repairs during the summer.

“We did some new kitchen (work) out there,” Miller said. “About five kitchen units received new cabinetry (but) it was not a renovation for the entire complex,” she said.

Despite ongoing renovations, residents of the apartment complex agree more large-scale renovations need to be made soon.

Patrice Ware, a junior finance major, lives at the complex with her three-year-old daughter Faith.

“It’s not child safe,” Ware said. “The tiles on the floor are coming up. I have three eyes on my stove that aren’t working at all.”

Ware pointed to an old, rusty swing set located in the grassy courtyard and said the complex is “like the projects; low income housing.”

Nils Venghaus, a graduate student from Germany working on his masters of business administration, has lived at the University Apartments for just one week.

“You see, the interior is a little worn out,” Venghaus said. “You see marks on the ceiling from water coming in.”

Venghaus and Ware both said they would prefer major renovations be made to the complex than it be torn down and rebuilt.

“Where would we go if they tear all of this down?” Ware asked.

Borget Anoye, a graduate student from Martinique in the French West Indies, has lived at the complex since June and thinks a new one should be built at the same location.

“I think you need to build a new complex,” Anoye said. “It’s too small, I mean this is for families.”

Anoye said his wife and two children are currently living in Houston because his one bedroom apartment is not big enough to accommodate them.

“Where’s the space for the kids?” he asked.

Anoye plans to leave Charleston next year upon finishing graduate school, but hopes the next occupant of his apartment can benefit from a new complex.

“I want some improvement for the next tenant,” he said.

Hudson is aware improvements need to be made. “That’s the whole reason we’re doing this,” he said.

Changes to the University apartments are part of the University Master Plan developed in the late 1990s, Hudson said.

The plan concerns Eastern’s buildings and “shows the way the (university’s structures) will grow in the next 10 or so years,” Hudson said.

Student government editor Niki Jensen can be reached at [email protected]