UW Bothell’s Husky Village nearly ready for students this fall

BOTHELL — There is still some work to be done at Husky Village Student Housing. Contractors are finishing the main office and there are plans to add a deck by the pond behind the eight-building apartment complex.

Still, some apartments were ready to be shown last week to potential stude

nts interested in living at the newest acquisition by the University of Washington’s Bothell campus.

Tyler Lenderman and his mother toured a three-bedroom apartment. The place was mostly empty except for two couches, some tables and three beds in two different rooms.

The 869-square-foot apartment impressed Lenderman, 18, who is coming from Roy, south of Tacoma, and has been apartment-hunting in the area for several days.

At the moment, Husky Village seems like his best option. Other apartments are in the same price range, but they don’t come close to having the number of amenities Husky Village has, he said.

“It is better than I expected,” Tyler Lenderman said. “There is nothing that compares to this quality.”

This fall, the campus expects to officially open its 240-unit apartment complex in hopes of attracting more students who live outside driving distance and increase the student life on the campus. Husky Village, located at 8612 Beardslee Blvd., will triple the amount of student housing on campus.

The $10.7 million property was bought last April and it’s undergoing $1.5 million in renovations that include repainting, refurbishing and adding offices for student staff, university spokesman Richard Penny said.

“We believe the best college experience and most learning happens where the student is immersed in campus life,” he said.

The purchase and renovations will be paid entirely by lease payments from the students. Rents range from $2,085 to $4,170 per quarter depending on the number of students living in an apartment.

The school decided to buy the property because it was cheaper than building new housing, Penny said.

Before, the school leased two different buildings for student housing. Those could only hold a total of 70 students. The school has ended the lease agreement with those properties, which were located two blocks off campus, Penny said.

All current work should be completed by September, in time for the start of classes. As of last week, the school had a waiting list for students wanting to live at Husky Village, Penny said.

Last week, high school students and parents interested in applying to UW Bothell toured the campus and Husky Village.

“I really like it has a lot of room. It’s the biggest I have seen,” said Anna Smith, 17, of Carlsbad, Calif., who has visited other campuses.

For Danyelle Loucks, of Renton, the best thing about the apartments is that they would not be as crowded as student dorms.

Proximity to the school and safe housing were two things that attracted Jaden, 17, and her dad, Don Duffy, who are both from Bellingham.

Still, space was the thing that impressed Don Duffy the most.

“I have not seen housing like that and I was a professor for 39 years,” Don Duffy said.

Alejandro Dominguez: 425-339-3422; adominguez@heraldnet.com.