Landlords: We're up to Penn's challenge

In announcing an extensive dormitory renovation and construction plan Friday, University officials sent out a not-so-subtle challenge to area landlords: improve your product, or get ready for empty apartments. University administrators estimate 870 beds will be added to the current on-campus housing as part of the project, and they are counting on students who would otherwise live off campus -- an option chosen by 46 percent of Penn's undergraduates last year -- to fill them. Officials hope the resulting vacancies will be filled by graduate students or young families, who will make the area more stable and take better care of their homes. The $300 million project will include major renovations on all of the current dormitories and the construction of two to five new dormitories in Superblock, though the University has no plans to increase its total undergraduate enrollment above 10,000 -- meaning that if Penn fills all its dorms, landlords will invariably have a smaller client pool. But area landlords -- who are currently enjoying the best rental season they've had in 10 years, according to one of them -- said they are more than ready to meet the challenge. "We don't think there will be an adverse affect, because our product is so strong," said Dan Bernstein, property manager at Campus Apartments, one of the largest landlords in University City. "The people who want to live off campus are going to live off campus." The landlords already have a jump on the renovations. They've been working to improve University City rental properties, both by themselves and as a group. For instance, Campus Apartments is repainting all its properties; it recently finished its Beige Block on 41st Street. A committee of 11 local landlords and one University official -- headed by Bernstein and Apartments At Penn owner Dan DeRitis -- formed in September to set and enforce higher safety, aesthetic and lighting standards for area rental properties. The group hopes to raise the quality of housing in University City by having their standards go beyond the regulations put into place by Philadelphia's Department of Licensing and Inspections. The guidelines will be announced at a public meeting later this month. "If you have good quality housing on campus, the landlords off campus are going to have some stiff competition," said Diane-Louise Wormley, Penn's managing director of community housing. "I'm hoping they'll rise to the occasion." Comparing University City rental properties to a swimming pool, Bernstein predicted that "there will be no shallow end." He estimates Campus Apartments tenants are currently 70 to 80 percent Penn undergraduates. Penn Executive Vice President John Fry said Friday that the landlords have approached the University City District -- a year-old organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in University City and chaired by Fry -- about having the exteriors of their buildings cleaned on a fee-for-service basis as part of their efforts to beautify the area. These new self-imposed landlord standards, combined with the University's 10-year project -- not to mention the proposed Sundance Cinemas complex for 40th Street and the pre-K-8 University-assisted public school scheduled to open in fall 2001 -- could serve to lure more and older potential tenants to the area. "The more money you can put into an area, the more you can attract people to that area," said Bernstein. Arthur Bye, owner and broker of Urban & Bye Realtor, said graduate students, University faculty and staff and young families are more likely to rent in areas that are not densely populated by undergraduates. "They primarily want to live in a family, homeowner environment where there are no kegs on the front porch," said Bye, who estimated that undergrads currently fill 30 to 50 percent of his company's 180 rental units. And DeRitis of Apartments at Penn said the University's plan will have more of an effect on the areas west of 44th Street, as undergraduates who live that far out will be able to move closer to 40th Street -- in apartments where undergrads already live.