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USM Looks to House Students in Bayside Apartment Complex

Nora Flaherty
/
Maine Public
Bayside Village Apartment Complex in Portland.

The University of Southern Maine is looking to add housing for about 200 students, on a temporary basis, at an apartment building in Portland’s Bayside neighborhood.

The plan, approved by a board of trustees committee this afternoon, would allow the university to enter into a lease with the Bayside Village Apartment Complex.

University President Glenn Cummings says USM is hoping to ultimately have its own dormitories in Portland, as it does in Gorham, where dorms are very full.

“But to the extent that we are moving forward with that plan, our plan is to make sure that we have some interim beds that are here on the Portland campus, and also help relieve some of that pressure out in Gorham,” he says.

The university currently has no dormitories in Portland. It would rent out two floors of the building and treat them like a dorm, with resident assistants on each floor.

“Essentially what they would operate as is one of our dormitories except slightly off campus and specifically focused on USM students,” Cummings says.

The university is hoping to rent the apartments for two years to start. It’s estimated that if the board of trustees approves the lease, housing would be available for students in Fall 2017.

Nora is originally from the Boston area but has lived in Chicago, Michigan, New York City and at the northern tip of New York state. Nora began working in public radio at Michigan Radio in Ann Arbor and has been an on-air host, a reporter, a digital editor, a producer, and, when they let her, played records.