On Jan. 11, 2023, Capital University sent out an email to faculty and staff members detailing a faculty plan presented to the board of trustees in June 2022. This plan outlined the current faculties plan, as well as recommendations on how to improve the university as a whole. During this meeting, it was decided and approved that the university will sell the Trinity North apartments.
The Trinity North Apartments were built in 1979, and currently house 12 undergraduate and graduate students and their families. The apartments also house 20 Columbus State Community College students.
The apartments were investigated prior to the meeting in June, and based on their condition, it was decided that it was too much work to do the estimated $10 million dollar upkeep. The excess number of residential students residing in Cotterman, Lohman, Saylor-Ackermann and Schaff halls was also a contributing factor in this decision.
The students living in Trinity North are not expected to vacate before December 2023, and will be working with the Office of Residential and Commuter Life to create individual transition plans, if preferred.
The email also outlined that the university plans to put the money made from the sale into an improvement fund that will meet with the new facilities plan.
William Mea, vice president of business and finance, commented on the timeline of when the apartments are expected to sell. Mea said “The property is currently being marketed by the co-brokers that we hired: NAI Ohio Equities and The Robert Weiler Company. We expect to sell it during 2023 with settlement in early 2024.”
Mea said that “No buyer has yet been identified. A Request for Proposals will be issued by the co-brokers and various real estate development companies will submit bids for the property. With those bids will also be plans for what will be done with the property. It is highly unlikely that any developer will use the existing buildings.” Mea speculated that, “They will be torn down and a new development (possibilities for retail, apartments, condos, parking, etc.) will replace them.”
Mea touched more upon the reasoning behind selling the apartments, saying “In pre-pandemic years, Trinity North was more fully occupied, but future enrollment and occupancy projections show that Capital will not need Trinity North to meet student housing demand.”
While it will be sad to see the Trinity North Apartments go, it may make room for more retail or parking on campus, which will hopefully entice more prospective students to enroll at the university. Capital University’s Bexley campus currently has only a handful of retail locations within walking distance, but there are occasionally shuttles to Easton Town Center. Students will more than likely be excited to see more retail put into campus if that is the direction the buyers decide to go.
