By Baylee Pulliam
Colleen O’Malley has a large hole outside her bedroom window. Framed by the wire mesh of a chain-link fence, the hole is filled with backhoes, bulldozers, yellow excavator cranes and men in reflective orange vests.
O’Malley lives in Bettie Johnson Hall, just across Fourth Street from a construction site.
“I can hear them sometimes,” said O’Malley, a freshman sport administration major. “Especially when I’m in my room, I can hear them working out there.”
Construction crews broke ground on the lot at Third Street and Cardinal Boulevard at the end of August. The site, which is the former home of Masterson’s Catering, was purchased with the goal of adding a new 360,000 square foot residence hall to the University of Louisville neighborhood. The building, named Cardinal Towne, is a $55 million project and will have the space to house 540 students.
“I remember hearing about it at the end of last year,” said Chris Remmel, a sophomore marketing major. “But I wasn’t aware they were actually going to build anything. I’ve seen the construction this year though.”
Like Remmel, many students are still relatively unaware of the details of the new development. While brochures on the new building have surfaced in U of L’s Office of Housing and Residence Life, many students are still in the dark about what the construction will bring.
Shannon Staten, director of housing, believes that students will be very interested in the new housing option.
“Students don’t really know about the new complex yet, so we haven’t really had anyone in here asking about it,” said Staten. “But there is a pretty big demand for student housing. Right now, we have the means to house about 25 percent of students attending U of L.”
According to the university’s 2020 Plan, the goal is to increase this number to 32 percent within the next 10 years.
“We’re always actively pursuing ways to increase housing availability on campus to students who want it,” said Staten.
Despite the fact that the building is intended to house U of L students, it is not a university project.
“I want to make it perfectly clear that U of L is not responsible for this,” said Mark Hebert, U of L spokesman. “We’re affiliated. But this is the developer’s money and U of L isn’t tied to it. In fact, the developer came to us about the project.”
The developer’s name is Larry Gough, president of Investment Property Advisors based out of Valparaiso, Ind.
“We really wanted to make sure that the apartments have great amenities,” said Gough. “They’re all 100 percent furnished and they have granite countertops.”
According to Staten, amenities are important, since the main student demand is for housing that is technologically and architecturally modern.
Advertisements for Cardinal Towne seek to fill this need by promising “Modern student living.” According to brochures for the complex, each apartment is equipped with energy efficient climate control, a flat screen television, a washer and dryer, Internet and cable service, and electronic door locks.
While many students have marveled at the amenities that will be offered, some have speculated that such amenities will cause the price of living in Cardinal Towne to be beyond their means.
“I bet that’s like really expensive,” said one U of L student after reading the details of what the apartments will supply. “No way I could afford that.”
Pricing for the apartments has not yet been listed, however Gough expressed that he doesn’t see the cost being a factor in student opinion of Cardinal Towne.
“This is a great place for a student to live,” said Gough. “We’ve made sure of that.”
In an attempt to attract students, Gough has included several student facilities in the design for the complex.
There will be a pool and fitness center in the building, as well as multiple lounges for studying and quiet reading. There will also be several living rooms and a few student dining rooms. According to Gough, these facilities will be open to residents of Cardinal Towne, but will also be available to U of L students who do not live in the building.
“We’ve also got a couple theater rooms that will play discount movies,” said Gough. “It’s really about creating a place where students can hang out with their friends and just enjoy themselves. What we’re really focusing on with this building is incorporating community into its design. And I really think that’s what we’ve accomplished here.”
In addition to the student facilities Gough has promised, there will also be 30,000 square feet set aside for retail use. Several stores, such as Gray’s College Bookstore and Cardinal Stop convenience store and grocery, have already leased space.
Restaurants such as Heine Brothers’ Coffee, Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches, Qdoba, The Comfy Cow, Papalinos NY Pizzeria, Le Peep, and Home Run Burgers & Fries have also committed to leasing space in the building. According to Gough, all restaurants will have both indoor and outdoor dining.
As to whether or not these restaurants will be added to the meal plan, the university has made its stance very clear.
“The restaurants in the building will not be on the meal plan,” said David Martin, director of purchasing for U of L. “They’re not affiliated with the university and with Sodexo, so they can’t be.”
However, Martin said that students will be able to use their Cardinal Cash in stores in the building.
“Cardinal Cash is the money you use to do your laundry, buy stuff out of vending machines and print in the library – kind of like a debit card,” said Martin. “All the businesses in the new building have expressed interest in allowing students to use their Card Cash there.”
For the university’s part, the administration wants to make sure students who live in the building still feel connected to the rest of the students on campus.
“Once the project’s complete, our job is to make sure the students living there have access to the same amenities that students on campus do,” said Hebert. He wants these students to have access to campus security and Campus Health Services.
The construction of Cardinal Towne has not been without its setbacks.
Recently, the unionized workers on the site have debated with the developer and with the university over whether the project should be qualified as a public project. The workers claim it is, due to its connection with U of L, which is a public university.
It has to do with whether or not “Larry Gough and his company must pay prevailing wages to the people working on his project,” said Hebert in an e-mail correspondence with The Louisville Cardinal. “As far as U of L is concerned, this is a privately developed property and we have no role in deciding how much the workers are paid.”
Barring any delay, the leasing office for Cardinal Towne will be open sometime in December. The building will be available to students for the fall 2011 semester. However, construction will not be fully complete on the rest of the project until one year later, in July of 2012.
Right now, the construction on the corner of Cardinal Boulevard and Third Street continues.
The workers still suit up in their orange vests every day and they still drive their backhoes and bulldozers. Reflective signs on the sidewalk will continue to direct foot traffic around the site until the building is complete.
Until construction is finished and students can call Cardinal Towne home, they will have to find a way to deal with the construction and look forward to the new building and the neighbors it will bring.
In the meantime, Cardinal Towne is just a hole outside Colleen O’Malley’s window.
