In rental boom, a good apt. proves hard to find

Many graduate students have settled for apartments in University City amid the lack of vacancies in center city. Six hundred bucks for a small and "crappy" efficiency. That's what first-year Veterinary student Catherine McManus said was her best option as she searched for an apartment in Center City this summer at the height of a booming housing market. For Penn graduate students -- many of whom opt to cross the Schuylkill River because of the perceptions of increased safety, more attractive housing and a livelier social atmosphere -- finding a place to live has gotten much tougher this year. The downtown housing market is so hot, in fact, that the resulting overflow into University City is also making once-plentiful housing west of campus harder to come by. According to University statistics, 43 percent of those graduate students who did not live in Penn dormitories lived in Center City in 1997-98. A much smaller percentage of undergraduates also typically live downtown. Because the neighborhood has reached its highest occupancy rates in recent years, many of them had to settle instead for housing in University City, according to Mihaela Farcas, Penn's director of off-campus living. And unless new spaces become available in both neighborhoods, the crunch is likely to continue next year. At the same time, the graduate towers -- the Penn dormitories on the 3600 block of Chestnut Street recently renamed Sansom Place -- are almost completely full, after several years of high vacancy rates. Those involved in the real estate market explained that, currently, it is nearly impossible to find an apartment in Center City. "There aren't any rentals," said Joanne Davidow, vice president of Fox & Roach, a large regional realtor. "Everybody's 100 percent occupied." Davidow added that she has spoken to several Penn students who told her they had difficulty finding an apartment. For many students, the only rentals available were out of their price ranges, especially if they waited until the summer to find an apartment. McManus, a Queens, N.Y., native who just graduated from the State University of New York at Binghamton, said the Center City apartments available in July were less than ideal. "I found a couple of options, but they were $600 efficiencies with not much room," she said. Quality of Life Apartments in the area haven't always been so hard to come by. In fact, while rentals are currently 98 to 100 percent occupied, in past years, that figure was in the low to mid-90s, according to Mary Barr, manager of membership services for the Center City District. According to Davidow, the increased demand is the result of general improvements in Philadelphia's quality of life. "So many people want to live in the city, which has driven rents up tremendously," she said, adding that improved cleanliness, "fabulous" new restaurants and a growing theater district are among the attractions that have brought more people into Center City. In addition, last October, the Central Philadelphia Development Corporation launched an advertising campaign with the tag line "Make Your Move to Center City." CPDC aimed the $50,000 campaign mainly at attracting young professionals, empty-nesters, young families and gays and lesbians. And Penn students have made up a big part of the increased demand, officials said. According to Tracy Mitchell, who manages the Embassy Apartments at 21st and Walnut streets, her building filled up -- largely with students -- before the busy late-summer season even began. "A lot more Penn students are coming here as opposed to living in University City," Mitchell said. "We don't have apartments for everyone and what they're looking for." Even vacant, newly constructed buildings are being filled within one to 1 1/2 months after construction, Mitchell said. The 43 percent figure was up from just 25 percent 10 years ago. Farcas said the figures for this year will be available next week. Closer to Campus The increased popularity of Center City housing, particularly in certain prime buildings, has forced many students to live closer to campus or in on-campus residences. "I had a bit of difficulty in the spring, mainly because of the building I was living in," said Jonathan Cross, a law student, who lived in the 2400 Chestnut Street apartment building. "They didn't have anything opening in August," Cross said, explaining that he decided to live on campus in graduate-student-oriented Mayer Hall, a seven-story dormitory near 38th and Spruce streets. Farcas pointed out that University City -- where 23 percent of the graduate population not living in dormitories made their home last year -- is also growing in population, partially due to incentives the University provides to professors and staffers who choose to live in the area. Other area officials cited various factors as helping increase demand for area housing, including the higher numbers of graduate students attending neighborhood schools and the addition of several new trendy shops and night spots, such as Xando and the University Bookstore. In addition to the higher demand, the overflow of students from Center City has made vacancies in University City more scarce. "We're 100 percent occupied," said Scott Kaufman, property manager of Campus Apartments, one of the biggest landlords in University City. Kaufman added that Center City being filled to near capacity "absolutely benefits us." In many cases this year, Farcas explained, students ended up with housing that was either further away from campus than they planned to live or that lacked the facilities they wanted. And McManus, who ultimately found an apartment at 44th and Spruce streets, agreed that those who don't begin looking early enough will miss the boat. "It's tough to find nice, decent housing," she said. "A lot of places are in poor condition." Still, McManus said she was satisfied with her choice of housing, adding that the rent was cheaper than housing closer to campus and that a lot of other graduate students live in the building. The housing crunch may also have a long-term effect: the creation of a larger student presence farther west into University City. Farcas explained that many students who were forced to take apartments further west of campus than they planned, told her they are now pleasantly surprised with the housing they obtained. "Some students ended up making very good living decisions," Farcas said, referring to several students who rented apartments west of 43rd street. Other Options Still, some students who could not find housing in Center City and did not want to live in University City ultimately chose a less convenient route. First-year Law student Matt Archer said he attempted via phone to find an apartment in Center City from his home in Dallas over the summer, but to no avail. Archer eventually chose an apartment in Ardmore, a Philadelphia suburb. "I was kind of apprehensive about living in West Philadelphia," he said. But Farcas explained that despite the common stereotypical notions, many buildings in University City are actually more attractive and better-kept than some Center City buildings. In particular, she said, the Alan Klein apartment building at 47th and Pine streets, where many students chose to live, is a "very nice building" that was completely occupied before August. Adding to higher occupancy in this area is the fact that private landlords have renovated or built hundreds of new apartments in the last year in University City, further increasing the attractiveness of living near campus. To accommodate the higher demand, area landlords recently formed a group to create minimum voluntary standards for the maintenance and ownership of their apartments. The hope is that through better management, the booming market will continue. And Kaufman of Campus Apartments said that area property managers have no reason to believe it won't. "The more you put into the apartments, the more people are going to live there," he said.

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