New student housing planned

Proposal would extend Cook Village complex east on 11th Street

NEW APARTMENTS — A preliminary site plan shows the six proposed new additions to Cook Village that will be constructed along 11th Street pending city and Board of Trustees Approval.

Only three years after opening the new $3.6 million Cook Village townhouse-style apartment complex, Hope College is again seeking city approval to build new student apartments on 11th Street between Lincoln and Fairbanks avenues directly across from the DeVos Fieldhouse. In a bid to reduce the school‘s reliance on off-campus rentals, Hope’s current plan calls for the eventual construction of seven residential units in six new buildings directly east of the previously constructed Cook Village units. Each unit would have three to four bedrooms and house between six and eight students. College officials revealed their plans in a request filed with the City of Holland to rezone 18 parcels of mostly vacant land along 11th Street from residential status to educational use. Rezoning is a necessary prerequisite because a 2014 Holland ordinance limits new properties in a residentially zoned area to four or fewer unrelated individuals. Rezoning the land for educational use would waive this requirement. A rendering provided to The Anchor by Greg Maybury, Hope’s Director of Operations, shows five buildings being constructed facing 11th Street just east of the existing Cook Village buildings while a sixth structure will be built on a vacant lot next to the student parking lot on 12th Street. According to the Holland Sentinel, Hope has spent at least $2 million since 1996 gradually acquiring and demolishing homes along the block. All but three of the existing homes that once lined that street were demolished this summer. The remaining residences were spared because they currently serve as student cottages, but the plans shows these buildings’ days are also numbered. Maybury stated that the proposed structures will act as a visual continuation of Cook Village while also providing greater handicap accessibility. “They will be smaller scale than the original Cook Village, but in keeping with the overall architectural feel of Cook Village,” Maybury said. “All of these new units are currently designed to be wheelchair accessible on the main level with some of the units designed as fully compliant ADA living units.” The site plan shows a considerable amount of greenspace and new pedestrian walkways surrounding the units. The drawings even show new outdoor amenities including designated hammock hanging locations and pergola-covered seating areas. The proposed buildings will only extend midway down the block, leaving a large pocket of open land. Maybury noted that some of the additional land would likely be used to construct additional parking. “The college is considering some parking areas to the east of the housing units to support the athletic venues as well as providing some additional student parking for the residential units,” Maybury said. The plan comes as Hope is trying to reduce its dependence on privately owned rental units. Hope has leased such units to house students in recent years after large class sizes outstripped available space on campus. For the current academic year, Hope leased space for 121 students in the Fairbanks Townhomes complex on 16th Street. The rezoning request seems to indicate that Hope will move away from leasing Fairbanks units when the project is completed. The request noted the new project is not designed to increase total student population in the area but instead is “a shift of current population from Fairbanks housing units to these units.” A start date for the project was not provided. Maybury stressed that the current plans are preliminary and are subject to change. “No specific construction timeline has been determined as the College continues to work through zoning changes and the necessary Board of Trustees review and approval,” Maybury said. Once the project is greenlighted, Maybury explained that the units would likely be built in phases with three units one year and the remainder the following year