Last week, Jacksonville State University finalized the purchase of Colonial Arms Apartments on Mountain Street for $682,500.The property was purchased at auction from Leonardo, Inc., on Oct. 15.
JSU President William Meehan said the three buildings, two of which were built in 1966 and one in 1968, will remain as housing, saying he hoped to see them turned into community living facilities for students with shared interests or majors.
“The units that are over there could be wonderful units for having students that are in similar situations, like pre-law students or pre-med or communication majors or whatever,” said Meehan, adding that he hopes to build on the success of Dixon Hall, which has become such a community since it houses the Marching Southerners.
The purchase of this 1.2 acres of land and the accompanying buildings, gives JSU ownership of a large swath on the north side of West Mountain Street.
“Every thing that is adjacent to the university, contiguous to that, we’ve been looking at. One thing you don’t want to be as a university is land-bound,” said Meehan, citing the University of North Alabama at Huntsville and the University of Alabama at Birmingham as two examples of schools with a limited ability to expand. “For the last 10 years we’ve been methodically, and longer than that, picking up all the apartments and things that are on West Mountain, on our side, the north side.”
Colonial Arms Apartments includes 24 total apartments, 16 of which are two-bedroom apartments. The rest are one-bedroom.
Meehan said there were a few things on the property that needed repair, but overall the buildings are sound and should last for many years to come.
“They’re well-built. They were here in ’68 when I came. They were relatively new, but they are well-constructed and they’ll last,” said Meehan.
