City Vista Set to House Trinity Students in the Fall

City Vista apartments sit right across the Trinity campus

By Elizabeth McEnrue & Abigail Tisdale

On the morning of January 18, Taylor Mobley ‘16, a current tenant of City Vista apartments, saw a post from Trinity’s Facebook page about its recent purchase of the complex she calls home.

“I saw the picture and even seeing the picture I said, there has to be another City Vista.They would not do this to me," said Mobley. "So I click on the link, and lo and behold, they bought my apartment complex!"

On that same morning, Trinity University students received an email from President Danny Anderson regarding the acquisition.

Located at the corner of Hildebrand Avenue and Devine Street, City Vista is a 141-unit apartment complex with a 340-space parking garage.

The complex offers 1, 2, and 3-bedroom floor plans as well as a wide variety of luxurious amenities, including in-room laundry facilities, an infinity pool, a game room, a formal lounge area completed with a business center, a rooftop terrace, and a fitness facility.

“This is a high end luxury apartment which goes perfectly with our university,” said Melissa Flowers, director of Residential Life at Trinity.

This purchase moved Trinity Campus Master Plan a big step forward, which already included plans to build a 200-300 bedroom, apartment-style living option with a parking garage in the space behind Laurie Auditorium. This is one of the master plan’s measures to de-densify on-campus housing.

According to Sharon Schweitzer, assistant vice president for external relations, “This purchase of course accelerates our master plan, but it is so beneficial and a great investment for the next 40 years of our institution.” Trinity students are required to live on campus for three years.

The main market for City Vista is juniors, seniors, and graduate students. The complex houses 60 1-bedroom, 77 2-bedroom, and four 3-bedroom apartments. About 270 students will live there next year.

Leases extend from August 1 to May 31. However, tenants do not have to vacate the property during the winter break, unlike dormitory housing. Co-ed housing arrangements are permitted at City Vista, and some students did take advantage of the option.

“We’ve been hoping to get more juniors who live on campus, and attract seniors and grad students to stay on campus. We now have more room to accommodate this,” Flowers said. “This was a huge undertaking, and honestly this has been my busiest semester of my professional life, but the purchase was so attractive and reasonable.”

Data collected showed that students sought more independence in living options, citing perks such as privacy, closer laundry services, and kitchen access.

Emily Elliott, junior English major, has been looking forward to off-campus living, especially with her own kitchen, since her first year.

“I was really excited because the other options I had been looking into were not as nice as I wanted. After living in the dorms for three years, I really wanted an apartment that had better quality things,” Elliott said. “Since I’ve been a freshman, I’ve been super excited about having a kitchen. I love to cook, and I love knowing the food is made the way I want it. So I’m really happy to have that.”

ResLife has encountered some obstacles in the process thus far, including difficulties with water, electricity, cable, and Tiger Card integration. Unfortunately, City Vista will not be able to accommodate summer students this year.

City Vista will also have vastly different alcohol policies than the dorms. For example, liquor will be permitted in apartments. Alcohol will also be permitted in common areas but only beer and wine. Glass, however, will not be permitted by the pool.

The acquisition also puts City Vista under Trinity University Police Department’s jurisdiction. Therefore, City Vista will now be included in their regular rounds. TUPD will patrol the area less frequently than upper campus.

“The first year could be a little bit stronger [policing]. We really want the remaining tenants to leave with positive thoughts of Trinity students because we know this isn’t an ideal situation for them,” Flowers said.

The university wants to prepare students for life after Trinity, so fewer staff members will be present on site. Two administrative staff members and two residential life staff members will live in the complex. ResLife sought out young, recent graduates who had been on ResLife during their time at Trinity to fulfill the role of monitors at City Vista, and Mobley was one of them.

Mobley had been on ResLife during her time at Trinity and Flowers offered her a similar position at City Vista.

Mobley said the position would be low maintenance. “She [Flowers] was basically just saying that there was an opportunity to do check-ins and check-outs. I wouldn’t have to enforce policy.” She has not officially accepted the offer yet because she was not quite sure if that’s what she wants to do.

Callum Squires, senior German studies and international sport management double major, has also been offered a position on City Vista’s residential staff. He is also considering the offer.

“I felt like it was important that it didn’t become an extension of campus, even though it is so close,” said Squires. “In an ideal world, I would have had it be even less regulated than it’s going to be, but it is going to be less regulated than the dorms, which is good.” He added, “I’m glad even the RA-style positions that I might be filling are not as hands-on as they are in the dorms.”

As for current tenants, they can either break their current lease with no penalty and move out by June 31 or fulfill the rest of their lease. Most have decided to move out, since they do not want to be around college students.