After spending nearly two years renovating a vacant Walnut Hill property, a student-housing developer and landlord hopes to entice denizens of University City to move deeper into West Philadelphia with discounted rental rates and free rides to class.
About 30 apartments in the 127-unit Croydon Hall Apartments at 241 S. 49th St. will be available for lease beginning in January, said Scott Orens of Philadelphia-based Orens Bros. Real Estate Inc., the property's owner.
With the $10 million renovation, the building will have a fitness center and bike storage and apartments with dishwashers, garbage disposers, and air conditioning, Orens said.
Rents will be as little as $550 a month for a studio and as much as $1,405 for a three-bedroom unit, according to an Orens Bros. spokeswoman.
That falls below what University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University students typically spend on housing. Average rents for Penn students range from $650 for a studio to $3,000 for a three-bedroom apartment in West Philadelphia, according to a university spokesman.
Plus, Croydon's early residents will likely receive onetime discounts on the rental rate for their leases' first year, Orens said.
"Some of the more adventurous students might be attracted by the economics," said Ridge MacLaren, first vice president with the Philadelphia office of Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services, which monitors the local rental market.
But for some, the distance from campus doesn't make up for the lower prices.
"Even apartments at 42d and 43d [Streets] seem far," said Julia D'Souza, a senior bioengineering major at Penn who says she rarely goes past 41st Street.
To help with the hefty walk, the Croydon will have a shuttle service with stops at the Penn and Drexel campuses, and other stops depending on tenants' needs, Orens said.
Graduate students and young professionals working in the area are more likely tenants for the Croydon, MacLaren said.
Low rents and a shuttle service make the building an attractive option, said Micah Del Rosario, who is working on a doctorate in English at Penn.
"But West Philly is really patchy," Del Rosario cautioned, saying he plans to stay in his apartment at 45th and Walnut.
Others were apprehensive about safety, too.
"Forty-ninth might be right along the border," said Rey Perez, a Penn medical student who lives in Center City.
To help residents feel safe in the Croydon - once a squatters' haven known as Paradise City and the site of a 2007 murder - "we are going to have a person on site 24 hours a day at a front desk," Orens said. As many as 15 cameras on the building's exterior also will help create a sense of security, he said.
Despite those accommodations, MacLaren said, the location is too far from the universities when there are alternatives closer.
For example, the recently opened 861-unit Chestnut Square at 3200 Chestnut St., which offers furnished apartments, is an option for students interested in living in a new, modern building.
But it all comes back to price points for Orens, who said rents at Croydon, which offers similar amenities, are significantly lower.
His company plans to finalize the acquisition of an approximately 70-space parking lot at 4900 Spruce St. in November, Orens said. A parking space, which will require an additional fee that has not yet been set, will be another feature that students cannot get at most other properties in the neighborhood, he said.
Even if students balk at the Croydon's location, tenants will fill the building, MacLaren said, noting:
"The area is very hot."
Source: Philly.com
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