Students still looking for a place to live next school year may need to get organized soon because apartments in Dinkytown and Stadium Village have been filling up fast âÄî and nobody is quite sure why.
Jared Buschette, leasing agent and resident manager at Bierman Place apartments in Dinkytown, said the apartment complex is âÄúway ahead of last yearâÄù when it comes to securing leasing contracts for fall.
He said about three-quarters of the 64 units in the complex are leased out now, and he didnâÄôt reach that level of capacity until June this past year.
Different types of apartments see different demand, Buschette said. The four-bedroom apartments in the complex are about 90 percent full, and a waiting list is forming.
Bierman isnâÄôt the only place where availability is starting to wane thin.
Northstar at Seibert Field owner Greg Jansma said both his buildings, totaling 51 units, are fuller than he anticipated at this point. He didnâÄôt think he would be 50 percent full until mid-February, but heâÄôs already at 70 percent.
Jansma isnâÄôt sure why apartment buildings are filling so quickly.
âÄú[ItâÄôs] hard to say,âÄù he said. âÄúOurs has been unsolicited interest: residents calling us. They are the ones getting organized especially early.âÄù
He finds the underlying theme for rentersâÄô early organization is that they had visited friends in the building and had a strong interest to live there themselves.
âÄúIt was even a little too early in my eyes,âÄù Jansma said. âÄúWe had an overwhelming amount of calls just into the school year. Our existing residents hadnâÄôt even been in place six weeks and we had a lot of interested people ready to sign leases and pay deposits and move into those units.âÄù
Philosophy freshman Madeline Robertson doesnâÄôt officially have a place to live for next year but doesnâÄôt seem to be too worried about finding one because she isnâÄôt picky.
Robertson said she would have had a place to live already, but her original plans backfired. SheâÄôs âÄúup for anythingâÄù at this point and has applied for an apartment complex in Uptown, she said.
Fast-filling complexes arenâÄôt just a trend in Dinkytown. Stadium Village has seen its own influx of early lease-signing.
Brian Nalezny, property manager at Stadium View Apartments on Delaware Street Southeast, said they are filling up their 247 apartments faster than usual. HeâÄôs found that in his decade of experience as a property manager, the market has leased at different times every year.
Nalezny said the rising population of the University of Minnesota, combined with the number of beds actually available, may have caused people to âÄúget it into their headsâÄù that they need to lease as early as possible.
Dinnaken Properties is nearing capacity for next year, general property manager Yvonne Grosulak said.  But itâÄôs normal for them due to the proximity of the building to campus and the fact that the building doesnâÄôt offer all the expensive âÄúbells and whistlesâÄù other buildings do. She says her building, with 120 units, seems practical to most students.