Campus Living Villages’ Student Housing Wins Accolades

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Writer

Lubbock, Tex.—The Cottages of Lubbock, a premier student housing complex just a stone’s throw from Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Tex., has been designated an official favorite of the educational institution’s students, faculty and staff members. The group recently voted the 241-unit, cottage-style property, owned by Campus Living Villages (CLV), as favorite off-campus Apartment/Housing Community providing student residential accommodations.

Just as CLV, an international on-campus and campus-adjacent student housing developer, helped shepherd in the progressive garden-style university housing model some years ago, the company is now serving as a trailblazer of sorts for the next generation of off-campus residential accommodations: cottage-style properties. Anyone describing The Cottages as a harbinger of things to come in the student housing world would be right on the money. Those who attended college 30, 20, even 10 years ago, would never have dreamed of the high-end accommodations the complex provides.

Off-campus housing at many a university across the country has changed, to say the least, and it continues to evolve. The Cottages, a property that CLV acquired brand new in 2009, is a perfect example of the progression.

“College students are really getting more and more discerning in terms of what they’re looking for in housing,” Stuart Rosenberg, a spokesperson for CLV, tells MHN. “They are much savvier consumers than those from a couple of generations ago. What Campus Living Villages is seeing are very discriminating students who, at a very early age, want the same things as sophisticated adults. They want something similar to what they’ve grown up with instead of taking a step back.”

Essentially, the cottage-style template boils down to any number of high-end amenities frequently seen in custom homes, including hardwood floors, crown moldings, full-size washer/dryers and kitchens with granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances. Additionally students have access to indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi, as well as an on-site, 8,230 square-foot clubhouse offering a screening room, tanning salon, top-of-the-line fitness center, billiards room, computer lab, business center and any number of flat-screen TVs. The extras extend to the outdoors with a resort-style swimming pool, fire pits, charcoal grills and ample green space.

Additionally, residences at The Cottages are of Craftsman architecture and free students from the trouble of having neighbors above or below their dwelling. Putting it in perspective, only a small percentage of those occupying even the most über-upscale rentals in Manhattan—perhaps those leasing attached, multi-story townhomes–can make the same claim about the proximity of their neighbors.

It’s a study environment the likes of which is only beginning to come to the fore. “The buzz about the cottage concept is it gives students more space and flexibility,” Rosenberg says. “And in terms of finishes, those at The Cottages of Lubbock are akin to luxury apartments being built in major cities.

“The Cottages has spacious, open floor plans with high ceilings, gourmet kitchens, large closets and large bathrooms. The trend in luxury cottage-style housing is more about how students are becoming savvier and savvier in terms of what they are looking for. Granted, there are students and parents with different budgets but there is a niche of students and parents who are willing to pay for a premium environment that is more in line with their lifestyle.”