Campus Village Building A houses SJSU faculty.

Faculty members make home at Campus Village Building A

By: Angelo Lanham

Posted: 3/18/08

Students living - or partying their lives away - in the Campus Village residences may not have noticed that just feet away from their buildings, faculty and staff are living in Building A.

"It's really quiet, I can say that much," said Neil Torrefiel, the university Web master who lives in Building A. "It's pretty cool. I like how quiet it is."

Torrefiel, 25, has worked on campus since August and said he also likes the convenience of being able to walk to work, although he thinks he probably enjoys living where he works more than longtime faculty who are more familiar with the campus.

Building A has housed faculty and staff since the building opened in 2005 with the rest of Campus Village, said Kevina Brown, community relations coordinator for university housing.

"It started out transitional, where it was two years maximum," Brown said, "but what was happening is the space. We weren't completely full, so there was no reason to drive people out."

Brown wrote in an e-mail that occupancy in Building A is at 65 percent of capacity.

"They haven't turned anyone down yet," said David Patino, the senior planner, scheduler, estimator and TMA systems administrator.

Patino, 28, who lives in Building A, said that originally, after a two-year period, residents were to be asked to appeal for their next year of residency.

Brown said that while there is still space now, the demand of the space is increasing, so campus housing is going to "play it by ear" as to whether they will begin enforcing the policy.

The latest word, Brown said, is that housing will not be returning to the two-year maximum.

With 35 percent of the building available, there should be plenty of room for graduate students, who Brown said have begun to live in Building A.

"For the 2008-2009 academic year, we will be expanding our marketing efforts to attract more grads to CVA," Brown wrote in an e-mail.

Although the marketing efforts have not begun, graduate student Bill Beaumont already lives in the building.

"It's certainly to my benefit, I was afraid I was going to get stuck in some four-bedroom apartment with four rambunctious kids," Beaumont said.

Some residents feel quite at home in Campus Village.

Sutee Sujitparapitaya, associate vice president for institutional research, said his only complaints were that parking gets crowded and the residence's parking garage doesn't have an elevator from the second floor.

"I feel bad for people with kids, or getting groceries, going up and down," he said.

Other than that, though, said he Sujitparapitaya enjoys the short walk to work and what has so far been a peaceful stay, unburdened by any noise from students living nearby.

"The only noise I hear is from my neighbor," Sujitparapitaya said.

A couple of Building B students also appreciate the quiet of living across from the faculty residence halls.

"It's actually kind of peaceful," said Jessica Frank, 20, a junior broadcast journalism major. "I used to live on the other side, with all the freshmen coming back."

She also said quiet hours are enforced pretty strictly in Building B, so it's peaceful for Building A as well.

Patino agreed, saying "This has been one of the nicest places I've lived. Period."

He continued, "It is great. I've made some great new friends, and I have a six-minute commute."

The prices range from $965, for a single-room unfurnished occupancy, to $1,645, for a two-bedroom furnished occupancy, Brown said.

Patino, who said he's done the math and checked out all of the alternatives, said the prices are very competitive for apartments of the caliber of those in Building A.

He also said utility prices are supposed to go up, and his rates are locked in, so he's safe.

Patino said he previously lived in Watsonville, which created a situation for a lengthy and expensive commute.

Now, though, in Building A, Patino said he has a six-minute walking commute to work, has lost all of the stress of sitting in rush-hour traffic and is even saving money from the gas he's not using.