Wynnewood Hall sold to a private company
Wynnewood Hall, located next to Pennbrook Apartments on City Ave. and 63rd St., was an upperclassmen apartment building containing single, double, and triple apartments. The building, which Saint Joseph’s University purchased in 1982, housed about 85 students per year. The apartment has not housed students since 2012.
In the spring of 2016, St. Joe’s sold Wynnewood Hall to DB Partners Group. Currently, they are finishing their renovations and are looking to begin renting out the apartments.
“At the end of the academic year [in] 2012, we took it offline for renovation,” said Cary Anderson, Ed.D., vice president for Student Life. “As we started to look at the possibilities for renovation and everything, it was finally determined that it made more sense just to sell the building to a private company.”
Students at St. Joe’s are required to live on campus for their first two years. After this period, students have the choice to continue to live on campus or move off campus.
“We’re in the process of developing a housing masterplan,” Anderson said. “So we just got some analysis of the upkeep that needs to happen in our current buildings and we have a mix of buildings we own and a couple we lease, [such as] Pennbrook and Lancaster Courts.”
Mike DeStefano, ’17, has lived off campus his junior and senior year.
“I was just tired of living on campus and I wanted my own living space that was more than just a bedroom and a kitchen,” DeStefano said.
DeStefano said that though he never considered to continue living on campus, he may have if there were more housing choices for upperclassmen, especially ones that were closer to the central part of campus.
Anderson also said that having housing that is as close to campus as possible is one of the university’s goals as they evaluate the campus housing options.
Juniors and seniors who choose to continue living on campus typically live in Merion Gardens or the Michael J. Morris Quad Townhouses. There are also campus houses along Lapsley Ln. that upperclassmen have the option to live in. Many students who choose to live off campus live in the surrounding neighborhoods or in Manayunk.
Though many students move off campus for either their junior or senior year, there are still students who chose to continue living on campus. Emma Ryan, ’17 has lived on campus all four years at St. Joe’s.
“I studied abroad as a junior, so finding guaranteed housing simplified my return process,” Ryan said. “I decided to continue living on-campus because I have a summer job on-campus, and the 12 month lease ended up being the best option for me.”
Despite the conveniences of living off campus, Ryan noted that living on campus has its benefits as well.
“I love that if something isn’t working in my apartment, Public Safety will come fix it,” Ryan said. “I have locked myself out of my apartment, and they were always really understanding. I feel really safe where I am. The shuttle is definitely convenient when paired with careful planning.”
There is not an immediate need for additional campus housing, however students also know that there are not a lot of options, according to Anderson.
“Part of our overall analysis is continuing to get a sense of the desire of [juniors and seniors] to live on campus or not,” Anderson said. “There are always going to be students who want to live off campus, which is fine, but you want to be able to provide housing to any [juniors and seniors] who wants to, and currently we are able to do that. Trying to find that right balance.”