Though Taylor Place has brought more students to the Downtown campus, the residence hall is only at a third of its capacity this semester.
Currently, only one of two Taylor Place towers is open, with Tower Two scheduled to open next fall. The open tower houses 445 students, but is designed to accommodate 744 residents.
Upon opening in Fall 2009, Tower Two will be capable of housing 540 more students. With four more rooms for staff, Taylor Place can hold 1,288 people.
Taylor Place management said it hopes to be close to full capacity next year and will expand by next semester.
“We’re expecting more students for the spring semester, as people learn more about what Taylor Place is and what we have to offer,” Taylor Place Director of Operations Jennifer Shea said.
While Tower One of Taylor Place is only at 60 percent capacity, the growth of Downtown students living on-campus grew by 370 percent from last year.
“There has been a significant increase among the student traffic that we see in downtown Phoenix, and you have to attribute some of that to the Taylor Place residents,” Shea said.
Last year there were about 120 students living on the Downtown campus, Shea said.
“To grow that to 445 is making a difference and is making an impact,” she said.
With the first Taylor Place tower a little over half full, some students felt disappointed, Ashley Lujan a nursing freshman and resident of Taylor Place.
“Everyone thought there’d be a more people, a few more things to do and expected something great, and there was nothing,” Lujan said. “They should have asked the students if they thought they should’ve put a campus in downtown Phoenix because everyone wants to be at Tempe because there’s more of a college atmosphere.”
However, other students say campus is only in its early stages.
“I’m sure when everything is finalized and everything is finished being built, the numbers will be as expected,” said Marco Guzman, a nursing sophomore and Taylor Place resident.
Currently, around 7,500 people come to the Downtown campus on a daily basis, dean for student affairs Georgeana Montoya said. This number includes students taking one or more courses Downtown, continuing education students, ASU employees and prospective students as well as student parents.
The total number of students enrolled Downtown is 4,963. The number is up 48 percent from last year’s enrollment, and exceeds the original forecast for the original Phoenix bond proposal by 40 percent.
“We have so many different events down here, so when you ask what is the total population of the Downtown campus, it’s very broad,” Montoya said. “It’s not just the students that are physically down here — it’s all the campus and community members on a daily basis.”
The Downtown campus, Montoya said, is intended to be a community campus, where students engage with their environment.
“I’m not saying it’s better or worse than the other campuses, but it is different,” she said. “The Downtown campus is really a community campus in the sense that it is so embedded within the City of Phoenix and everything it has to offer to the students, from the Herberger Theater to the Downtown Phoenix Public Market.”
As early as Spring 2009, Shea said, as many as five to six shops located on the exterior of the Taylor Place ground floor may go up and be available to Downtown students.
“It depends on the retailer’s interest, coming to us and saying they would like to be a part of this community,” Shea said. “We are targeting all different kinds of shops at this point, whether it’s food or services to come and be a part of it.”
Reach the reporter at snrodri2@asu.edu.
