CORRECTION: In a previous version of this article, the company that developed and built University Village Apartments and Campus West was misstated. The company is EdR. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Students at the Syracuse University College of Law have a new option for housing this year. Campus West, a brand-new apartment complex located about two blocks from the law school, opened its doors for the first time last week.

While initially restricted to only incoming and current law students, Campus West invited graduate and transfer students to apply for housing this year because not all the rooms were filled, said Eileen Simmons, director of the Office of Housing, Meal Plan and I.D. Card Services.

Nikki Laubenstein, director of admissions for the law school, played a large role in informing incoming law students about this new housing opportunity. She said most students wanted housing close to the law school because they spend a lot of time there and keep very different hours from undergraduate students.

“When we are out recruiting, we get a lot of questions about if there’s on-campus housing and we never had that before,” Laubenstein said. “I think that having that available to law students is really something that they like to hear.”

“I think eventually, in the future, the hope is that it will mainly be law students,” Laubenstein said.

Campus West is located near the Brewster/Boland/Brockway Complex, as well as the new law school, Dineen Hall, when it is completed in fall 2014. The rent ranges from $999 per month per person for a four-bedroom apartment to $1,259 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, according to Campus West’s website.

The residence building offers many amenities that are attractive to students, including a fully equipped fitness center, individual bathrooms, individual laundry service and wireless Internet.

Skye Hamburg, a sophomore English and textual studies major, transferred from Hofstra University and will live at Campus West this year. Hamburg originally lived in one of the SkyHalls on South Campus, but decided to move after seeing someone post a comment about Campus West on Facebook.

“It’s like granite countertops, hardwood floors, brand new furniture,” Hamburg said. “They’re awesome.”

Hamburg has not mapped out her morning route, but predicts that the walk to Main Campus is between 10 and 15 minutes.

EdR, the company that designed and built the University Village Apartments on Colvin on South Campus, also designed and built Campus West, according to a July 19, 2011 news release.

Both apartment complexes have similar pricing and room sizes, but Campus West also offers studio and one-bedroom apartments, according to its website.

Similar to University Village and Park Point Syracuse, Campus West has a completely separate online application that must be filled out before obtaining a lease, Hamburg said.

Although situated closer to Main Campus than most apartments, Campus West is still considered off-campus housing and is not offered through the housing lottery process, Hamburg said.

Hamburg was attracted to Campus West because the apartments were much closer to Main Campus than where she was previously living. She was also drawn to the mixture of apartment-style living and dorm living, as the apartments are accessible via a main hallway.

“They’re really nice,” Hamburg said. “We had people over the other night and they were like ‘this is so much nicer than South Campus.’”

Published on August 27, 2012 at 3:00 am

Contact Tyler: tagreena@syr.edu