Ohio State’s Buckeye Village closing

COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The Ohio State University has announced plans to close Buckeye Village at the end of this school year.

Buckeye Village provides housing for graduate students and students with families.

In 2016, university officials said there were 396 units on the property.

Currently, 89 of those units are occupied, officials said.

OSU leaders said they are currently in negotiations with the University Village apartments so that students will be able to live at that off-campus facility for two years at a rate subsidized by the university so that it will be the same as what they are paying at Buckeye Village.

Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson issued the following statement:

Ohio State remains committed to graduate and family housing options that are affordable, safe and located close to campus.

The university’s 2010 Framework Plan, the 2012 Athletics District Master Plan and the more recent Framework 2.0 plan all include long-term development proposals for the area northwest of campus, including the property on which Buckeye Village currently resides.

We are in the process of negotiating a lease agreement with University Village apartments, officials said. Beginning in 2020-2021, currently contracted Buckeye Village residents would have the option of renting a University Village unit. They would have this option for two years at rates subsidized by the university to match the current Buckeye Village rates (plus any University Housing rate increases established through the annual rate review process).

The existing Buckeye Village apartments would close. Ohio State continues to consider the best long-term opportunities for graduate and family housing. Currently, 89 Buckeye Village units are occupied.

Ohio State spokesperson Ben Johnson

Residents of the complex said they had hoped university leadership would have addressed the housing situation for graduate students differently.

“First of all, I would wish that they hadn’t decided that they needed to do away with the complex at all, but if they did, they should have taken better care of the students in the long run, and actually developed the new complex prior to asking us to relocate,” said Tannya Forcone.

In 2017, Johnson said the university issued a request for proposal to potentially develop land for graduate housing and a community space, but none of the proposals met the required quality and affordability thresholds.

The Buckeye Village community center is expected to stay open after the residents are asked to leave their current units.

OSU officials said the school will continue to pay for students’ gas and water, at University Village. Students will be responsible for paying their own internet, electric and cable bills. Parking at University Village is free.