WKU Student Housing Wins Student Accolade Second Time
Student housing specialist Campus Suites has been picked twice by students as their favorite.
By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor
Bowling Green, Ky.—Even in a time of high demand for apartments, keeping residents happy is an important ingredient in a property owner’s success, and perhaps no multi-housing segment is more sensitive to the whims of its residents than student housing. So it’s of some note, that student housing specialist Campus Suites—which has developed about 11,000 beds nationwide—has been picked by students as their favorite not once, but twice.
The Campus Suites property in this instance is College Suites at Campbell Lane in Bowling Green, Ky., which was recently voted “Best Off-Campus Housing” by students of Western Kentucky University. This is the second year that College Suites at Campbell Lane has been accorded that honor by students.
College Suites is a student housing complex located near, but not on, the WKU campus. It consists of three- or four-bedroom units that feature private bathrooms, in-unit washers and dryers, and individual storage closets. Utilities are included in the rent, and the property also includes a 24-hour fitness center, resort-style pool and spa, and a community clubhouse.
How much do these kinds of amenities matter to students? According to a recent report by J Turner Research and the National Apartment Association, both students and parents—the two groups that need to be catered to in student housing—think that private bedrooms and bathrooms are the most important apartment amenity (40 percent of students and 62 percent of parents, respectively), followed by in-unit laundry facilities (19 percent and 16 percent) and large bedrooms (11 percent and 8 percent).
According to the developer of College Suites, students are also encouraged to get to know their neighbors through a variety of community-planned events and activities. Events include block parties, casino nights, dive-in movies and more. Encouraged socializing might be a harder sell to today’s students, since according to the J Turner report, the main way students communicate with their peers is through cell phones. More specifically via texting, since most students estimated sending more than 100 texts a day.