Ben wrote:Is Creighton enrollment going up, and I didn't hear anything about it?
This now seems like tons of new apartments to absorb, between this project and CUMC, that's what, like 750 or so new units, right?
In the last 5-10 years, Creighton build a bunch of on campus dorms/apartments, plus I'm sure some of the North Downtown apartments that have been built/are in process are Creighton kids, now these additional 750 units. Just seems like a ton of housing for a school that hasn't vocally pushed an enrollment expansion.
Plus, with the Academic Medicine transferring to Bergan, you'll likely have migration of most of the med students/residents to midtown somewhere, so I'd actually expect a decrease in demand, not increase...
Short answer - you're either not a Creighton alum or you're not paying that close of attention.
Enrollment is up 20.3% in the past decade.
...I'm a two-time Creighton alum.
Undergrad students are basically capped at where they are. They have grown 3% in the past decade (4,203 this year) - but the requirement that undergraduates live on campus makes it difficult for them to grow without a huge housing investment - and I'm not sure they are pushing for more undergrads, but the mix of them has drastically changed too.
The number of graduate students has grown 44% in the past decade, nearly equaling the number of undergrads (4,190 this year). There was no reasonable housing for juniors, seniors or graduate students near campus when I graduated, which is why you saw The Wire and other developments fill up really quickly - a very large amount of them are Creighton students. When I graduated, your options were Opus or Davis halls - which were full - or rent an apartment at Capital Hill.
If you're a junior, senior or grad student and want to live by campus, you're relegated to apartments, the two apartment-style dorms or buying a house on the west side of 30th. With about 6,200 people that represent that population, the apartment swell in this area makes sense. I would guess with housing being the way it is in Omaha, the typical college students who used to buy houses in the area west of 30th (and rent to their friends) are now renting apartments. Just a hunch though.
In the last 5-10 years, Creighton has not really built THAT MANY dorms. I graduated in 2009 and their newest ones (Opus and Davis) were built before then.
The Medicine students will not migrate - their classes are still going to be on campus and they will still reside nearby. Just my opinion.