YSU marks new housing construction – WFMJ

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -

The landscape of Youngstown State University continues to transform as University leaders joined city officials Friday for a ceremony to mark the start of construction on another major campus project.

The ground breaking wassymbolic as work is already underway on the Enclave, a first class student housing and retail project at Wick and Lincoln Avenues.

As construction begins on this new project,the first students are moving in at the Edge, another newly completed housing complex. Sharon Sanders says students like the idea of apartment style housing.

"My main thing was Iwas going to have my own bathroom and Ididn't have to share it with about 40 other girls on a floor. So that's what really attracted me to the Edge," Sanders said.

Both the Edge and Enclave are projects that YSU President Jim Tressel outlined in 2016 in a presentation called, Next YSU:A New Look for a New Era. Contracting with private developers for housing is a win win for the university.

"Itmakes a whole lot of sense, itshifts a lot of risk from the university to a private developer. So we still get the benefit of having a larger inventory of beds for our students on campus," Neal McNally, V.P. of Finance and Business Operations.

The state of the art housing units, coupled with on campus retail space are attractive to potential students.

"We're trying to make YSU more of a a destination campus for students. We want them to be able to stay on campus, to have a positive student experience and along with that comes a growing demand for those types of amenities, restaurants and so forth," said McNally.

The 2016 plan also called for a new bookstore, and Barnes & Nobel just recently opened its new stand-alone store. Renovations are underway at Jones Hall, where a new Student Success Center will be connected to the Maag Library.

President Tressel says an active and growing university attracts more students and benefits the entire community. "It's going to do nothing but create activity downtown, forMill Creek Park, the Butler, you name it.So it's all part of what we need to do to keep getting better every day, " Tressel said.

The Enclave project also represents a YSU success story. The private developer is LRC Realty, and it's President is Frank Licata, a Youngstown native, and Youngstown State graduate.

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YSU marks new housing construction - WFMJ