Editors’ note: This story is the first installation of a two-part series designed to investigate the factors affecting housing for Washington and Lee University seniors. The second story will be published in the Dec. 9 edition.
A large milestone in a student’s Washington and Lee experience is the search for fourth-year housing. With no designated on-campus housing options, seniors are faced with new challenges of landlord negotiations, lease signings and more.
The university implemented mandatory on-campus housing for juniors in 2016 with the completion of the Village apartments and townhouses. The university has not made any changes to the housing policy since then, meaning seniors continue to seek out housing in the local area.
Many students sign leases for senior-year housing as early as their sophomore year, although the Office of Housing and Residential Life has neither established nor endorsed an official timeline for students seeking housing off campus.
However, as many students have already experienced, the process is often not smooth or uniform. A combination of increasing class sizes coupled with the heightened national competition for housing has had an impact on the cost of rent, with average November prices rising $750 compared to 2023.
The City of Lexington had 2,617 housing units within its city limits in 2020, an increase of 71 from 2010, according to the Census Bureau. These homes aren’t the newest; 963 were built between 1950-1970 and 797 were built before 1939, according to the American Community Survey (ACS). Most renters pay between $1,000 and $1,250 per month, according to the ACS.
The City of Lexington has tried to build modern housing but has faced roadblocks. In recent years, the city has tried to develop two properties into rental units with the developer Echelon.
However, as the Rockbridge Report presented, both plots remain undeveloped. One of the intended sites sits at the decommissioned VDOT service station on Waddell Street, a six-minute drive from the university parking garage, and was intended to be turned into 200 rental units. The other was intended to be off Spotswood Drive, also about a six-minute drive from campus, and would have hosted 62 units.
The plans fell through after the city council rejected Echelon’s request for tax breaks for the development, according to the Rockbridge Report.
“We failed miserably,” Frank Friedman, the mayor of Lexington, said in an interview with the Phi, regarding the city’s housing efforts in recent years. “We’ve been unsuccessful, primarily [because of] timing and inflation, and interest rates put the kibosh on a lot of growth from that standpoint.”
With one abandoned project, Friedman noted that “Echelon has a contract for the VDOT property but they’re struggling with making the numbers work and getting the project off the ground.”
Washington and Lee’s relationship with Lexington’s housing stock has long been complicated. In 2015, a study titled “From Country to Campus” found that W&L’s off-campus housing brought in over $3 million per year to landlords, breaking down to a yearly rent of over $6,000 per student. The study was conducted when both juniors and seniors lived off campus.
A current snapshot of both Redfin and Zillow showed a limited amount of available rental options scattered throughout Lexington and the surrounding county. The prices range from $1,250 to $4,800 per unit per month, with a by-room cost $450 to $800. Some landlords elect to provide water or other services to tenants, while others require tenants to manage their own gas, water, and sewage, each contributing to heightened costs.
In addressing potential costs of living in off-campus housing, Friedman stated “We remain committed to increasing the inventory of housing, which should keep prices lower, or reduce prices.”
Both Rockbridge County and Buena Vista are “dedicated to economic development,” said Friedman. He added that there is a delicate balance to be struck between building housing, creating jobs and having people to fill any new real estate. However, he predicts a growth in population and economic activity.
The Office of Housing and Residential Life’s website states “W&L students are encouraged to take ownership of their actions and decisions both in and beyond the classroom” with off-campus housing. However, the university still offers a limited number of rooms for seniors who wish to remain on campus.
Director of Housing and Residential Life Chris Reid did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
The university has a few resources on its website for those seeking off-campus housing, including links to regulations. In 2017, there was a guide to off-campus housing, however, the link to the guide has been deleted.
There remains little information on whether the university will pursue building dedicated fourth-year housing. The city has halted potential campus housing developments with questions about “institutional creep” across Nelson Street, as described by Friedman. In reference to a set of houses directly across Nelson Street from Gaines Residence Hall, Friedman said “[the university] wanted to mow it down and build fourth-year housing.”
The city did not change the zoning of those houses to allow for any potential demolition and subsequent construction of new senior housing, Friedman said.
“You can develop on your own property,” he said, “but no, you can’t take more off the tax roll and develop and creep into the city, removing neighborhoods in essence, which has been what’s happened in the past.”
But Friedman said the city should be able to generate more housing for students by at least 2040, the goal year of the city’s current comprehensive plan. “I remain optimistic that we will increase the housing inventory, which is the primary objective that the Council has,” he said.
