CREDIT: ADAMASGROUP.CA
The view of a proposed new student high rise at the corner of Oxford St. and First St. across from Fanshawe College.

Five-hundred Fanshawe students will soon be able to wake up and walk just a few steps to their classes. A new 15-storey, 126-unit apartment building has been approved and will be built on the south side of Oxford Street directly across from Fanshawe's entrance.

Fanshawe Student Union President Zack Dodge said the new building will help lessen the pressure on the on-campus living spaces that are currently available. "We're bursting at the seams, we're generally full. For instance, our winter intake students have a pretty slim chance of getting a spot with anything on campus, so this is a good thing. Whether it's another townhouse complex or a high-rise like this, the need for residence in this region is there. We need to expand."

The new building will ultimately provide a new option for students in any year of study. Fanshawe's offcampus housing mediator, Glenn Matthews, has high hopes for the new project. "There are very few high rises in the area, and we're hopeful that it will help student choices in the area … Certainly anytime you give more choices to students, it's a benefit for everybody."

He did suggest that one of the thought processes along the way was drawing students out of the Fleming Drive area.

After talking to several parents over the summer, Dodge said that an underlying concern was having respectable, safe, and responsible places to live around campus. "When you're driving across the street into the Gatewalk, Fleming, Mews communities, I don't think it's got that curb appeal than, for instance, a new state-of-the-art, multi-storey vertical residence would have." Parents will also gain a peace of mind knowing that 24- hour security will be provided in the new building.

There is always a concern when you have up to 500 students in one building, but Matthews said that noise and partying levels aren't as much of a concern in apartment buildings. "I've been doing my current job for 24 years and we rarely have issues of a noise variety in apartment buildings. It's usually houses that are the problem. Even though (apartments) are going to have a lot of people, they don't have a place to congregate."

Although many believe it's a response to last year's riot on Fleming Drive, Matthews said the project has been in progress for 10 years. "A developer in Kitchener originally bought the 10 homes on the property and let them sit for a while. The partnership dissolved, and the space sat in legal limbo. In the meantime, the original owners went to the Ontario Municipal Board and actually did get approval," he explained. The Environmental Committee of London's city council recently approved the project and in particular the aesthetics that were raising concern in the community. Many were worried the 15-storey unit would overshadow Fanshawe's two- and three-storey buildings.

In 2008, the city introduced the Near Neighbourhood Campus Report Strategy developed to help discover land that makes sense for high-density infill, and Matthews said this new space fits the bill. "If you look at any planning principles, high density (infill) along arterial roads like Oxford makes total sense."

Just down the road from the new building, at the corner of Oxford Street and Highbury Avenue is a large space occupied by soccer fields. This area has now become a topic of discussion when it comes to space that could be better used to serve Fanshawe students.

Earlier this year, many students were using the space to park (illegally), and walk across the street to class. "Students are crying out and looking for that expansion; campus itself is running out of space," exclaimed Dodge. "Sure, those fields are active in the spring and summer when the soccer season is rolling through, but never all of the time, and never at full capacity," he added.

Matthews anticipated that the building pattern will continue. "I suspect down the road you will actually see more buildings, maybe not exactly like this, but at the corner of Highbury and Oxford, because the government is selling that land off and there had been plans developed for that area to put high rises along Oxford."

Both Dodge and Matthews agreed that there are few suitable high-rises for students in the Fanshawe area, and there is much room for development. Dodge said he believes it's sending a good message to the community, "We've recognized that we have some room to grow, we need to grow with the campus and it's nice to see that builders feel the same way."

Matthews estimated that the building, referred to as Fanshawe Gate or Fanshawe Collegiate Manor, will be ready for new students by September 2014.