GW will reduce the number of upperclassmen on the housing waiting list by offering rooms in Francis Scott Key Hall, 2109 F St. and the former Sigma Nu fraternity house, said Andrew Sonn, director of Housing Services. The list has shrunk from 400 students to 200 since March 31.
FSK, which was previously planned to house GW Law School students starting next year, will now have some floors reserved for undergraduate students. Sonn said GW offered some apartment-style rooms in FSK to mostly rising juniors, but he does not know how many GW will reserve.
About 60 beds have opened in the 2109 F St. apartment building for upperclassmen on the waiting list since the lottery, Sonn said. The building houses mostly graduate students.
There are 35 sophomores and 169 juniors on the list after all housing offers were sent out, he said.
“This is the typical waiting list we have going into the summer,” Sonn said.
The University also opened the recently acquired Sigma Nu house on G Street to undergraduate GW men.
Sixteen GW students will live in the former Sigma Nu fraternity house next year, said Mike Peller, managing director of GW’s Department of Property and Real Estate.
Students who choose to live in the 2028 G St. house will pick their own roommates, Sonn said.
The three-story house will have both double- and triple-occupancy rooms. The house has three floors of bedrooms, with one bathroom on each floor and a common first floor with a study area. The house also has a basement with a kitchen.
Sonn said the house is an attractive opportunity for students on the guaranteed waiting list.
“It will be a unique living option for students,” said Sonn, citing the building’s distinctive architecture and the chance for students to pull in roommates if they choose to live there.
Peller said the house will be cleaned, furnished and carpeted to bring it to on-campus living standards. He said that by fall semester the house will include all the amenities of other on-campus options such as internet access, cable television and telephone lines for each occupant.
This is the first time the University has bought a fraternity house and used it to house students. Peller said the decision to purchase the house was simple, considering the campus housing shortage.
“We need to increase student housing, so the opportunity presented itself,” Peller said.
Sonn said the University is still processing responses, but most of the spaces in 2028 G St. are filled. The Community Living and Learning Center e-mailed male students with the lowest lottery numbers on the guaranteed waiting list about the opening in the former fraternity house. The students then had 48 hours to notify CLLC of their interest.
“We had pretty good feedback,” Sonn said. “I think a lot of people like the common-area space, the library space.”
Sophomore Brad Mewes, who will live in the house next year, welcomed the opportunity to live in the house after he took a tour.
“I was very impressed,” he said. “It’s a beautiful place inside . I’m very excited about living in a different kind of place as opposed to a dormitory.”
Although there is still work to be done, Mewes said he is confident everything will be ready when he moves in.
Sonn said the University is unsure if the former Sigma Nu house will be available for campus housing in two years.
-Katie Warchut contributed to this report.
