Temple can’t force students to live on campus. If you want to commute or live off campus its your right as a student. There are plenty of students that prefer living off campus for whatever reasons. I don’t think it changes that very much. What it probably will change are the students going into the large dorm-like, but privately run, buildings like University Village. These are your students who really do prefer living on or next to campus in a secure dorm style apartment, and they will probably rather stay in Temple’s dorms for another year than pay $800+ per month to live in University Village. Not that housing on campus is cheaper, but out of convenience many will probably stay. Like I said, the crowd going off campus already has options, and many are willingly choosing to live off campus. 

Also worth mentioning is that Temple’s student population that lives on or around campus has exploded in the last decade and is probably still increasing. I don’t know if their enrollment is up or not as well. This is in many ways just to keep up with additional students coming onto campus. There’s more student demand not only off campus but on campus as well. 

Much of the demand for off campus housing is because Temple just doesn’t have enough on-campus housing, and could only guarantee housing to freshman and sophomores.  This new complex will decrease demand for some of the sub-standard off campus housing that students are forced to rent at outrageous prices given the amenities and safety  being offered. I have no problem with this hurting speculators/slum lords who buy up row houses….invest pennies in rehab and gouge naive students who prefer to be close to campus.  

Well, not that they will, but Temple certainly could force students to live on campus if it wanted to (and had enough housing stock). Many colleges do just that.

It is my understanding that some of the older dorms (Peabody/Johnson/Hardwick) may close when this project is completed.  That will mean the net increase in supply is not as great as forecast.  

In terms of who is hurt by the project, I think it will be primarily the larger apartment buildings in the area – - UV, Kardon, Oxford Village, Edge.etc.  It will be interesting to see how Diamond Green fares with or without the new dorm in its bizarre location next to PHA.

You can see it from 95!

They don’t and they won’t at least for a very long time. Temple simply doesn’t have the room to house all the students on campus. Not unless it rebuilt all its dorms to extremely high density, like the Gateway, or it expanded further into North Philly. The University doesn’t want to do the latter, and it would take decades to do the former. Some of the low-rise dorms like 1300 and White Hall are barely ten years old. 

Actually, they currently cannot guarantee housing… even for freshman. If you are not a freshman, you basically won’t get housing. This makes many parents extremely worried. They really needed this!

Temple has plans for two more high-rise dorms in the next ten years.  None of the current dorms are slated to close.  Their latest projections show the undergraduate population leveling out with possibly a small increase in graduate students.  So perhaps this and the other private (Diamond Green / Wanamaker School etc) will take the sting off the rentals popping up in North Central. 

Incidentally, Paseo Verde is  not student housing.  It’s marketed towards families, young professionals and TU staff.  They really don’t want students living there unless they are graduate / post docs, etc.

[...] two blocks from the South Gateway project that we mentioned last week, developer Tejas Properties 2 LLC is proposing a much smaller residence for Temple students. On a [...]

I’ve heard Temple plans on ending their contract with the Edge, so the net result will be overall less beds available then initially advertised. Still, it’ll be an overall sizable increase AND get the disastrous Edge complex off Temple’s hands, so win-win all around. I could see that building being condemned within 5 years – it’s just a complete shit show

I don’t know why they don’t paint the Edge Apartment complex, perhaps Cherry. Get rid of that boring gray. Or maybe paint the Apartments black and the shops building something else. They need a better combination than grey and black. Something more inviting.

[...] Line. This intersection, home to the school’s book store, the Shops at Avenue North, and a giant, slowly nearing completion construction site, presents a snapshot of the Temple student experience of today and [...]