Black discussed plans for the housing, the first new on-campus housing constructed at UB in nearly 25 years, at the Feb. 10 meeting of the UB Council.

A total of 150 units are being planned for an 11.5-acre parcel of land on the North Campus, located south of Rensch Road and west of Hadley Road.

The university is in the process of circulating a request for proposals for the project, Black said. Plans are for construction to begin this summer, with occupancy slated for August 1999, he added.

Like the graduate-student, apartment-style housing being constructed at Sweet Home and Chestnut Ridge roads, the new North Campus housing will be owned by the UB Foundation, which will enter into a land-lease arrangement with the university.

The new undergraduate housing is the second part of a three-phase plan to improve and expand student housing opportunities on and near UB's campuses.

The third phase, Black explained, will involve new housing sponsored by the UB Alumni Association, as well as rehabilitation of dormitories on the South Campus.

Discussions about the alumni association-sponsored housing project are expected to begin next month.

The construction of apartment-style housing for undergraduates on the North Campus, Black said, will have "a dramatic effect, not only on residence life, but on the quality of life" for UB students.

The apartments, most of them with four bedrooms, will be in three-story buildings and are expected to house 600 students. Some units will be designed for students with disabilities.

Each unit will have a living/dining room, kitchen, bedrooms and two baths. Basic furnishings and appliances, including washers and dryers, will be provided.

Shuttle-bus service will be available, and units will be connected to UB's computer, cable-television and telephone systems.

Rental rates for the undergraduate units have not been set, Black told council student representative Kim Conidi, who voiced concern that the housing be priced affordably.

Noting that rental rates for apartments in the graduate-student housing complex on Sweet Home Road are expected to be in the low-$700-a-month range, Conidi said that rents in nearby apartment complexes, also on Sweet Home Road, are $550 a month.

"My concern is students might not be able to afford" rents in that range, she said.

Black said rental rates for the graduate-student apartments are being set in the low-$700 range because "that's what's going to be necessary to pay off the bonds" that are funding the project.