Graduate students still living at a former University housing complex have been given a 30-day notice to vacate after the rent mitigation period between the residents and the facility’s current property manager expired last month.
Bell Real Estate distributed the “Notice of Termination of Tenancy Without Cause” to remaining graduate students at Westmoreland Village LLC on July 1, one day after the University’s period of rent mitigation ended.
“It came as a real surprise,” said Brenna Wardell, a graduate student living in Westmoreland. “It’s a shock because 30 days isn’t a good deal of time to find something new, and Eugene is a very competitive place right now.”

The University made the decision to provide rent mitigation for students living at the Westmoreland facility after selling the complex in fall 2006, associate housing director Allen Gidley said.
Under the terms of the mitigation, students would pay the same rent they had been charged under University management to Bell Real Estate, and the University would pay the difference until June 30, 2008.
Wardell said she knew the University rent mitigation would expire in June, but not that her lease would be terminated along with it.
“Having more notice would have been great,” Wardell said. “Bell had no obligation to provide more notice, but the whole process was very underhanded.”
Westmoreland has undergone renovations since real estate business owner Michael O’Connell purchased the property in 2006; however, units like Wardell’s that were protected by the University’s rent mitigation were not renovated, she said.
These remaining units are scheduled to be remodeled soon, giving Bell “no choice but to give” the students notice, according to a letter distributed to the evicted tenants written by Westmoreland employee Kris Habenick.
Wardell said that in mid-May she received a notice from Bell informing her that her rent would increase by $5 a month after the University’s mitigation period ended, but was not informed that her lease would expire until July 1.
She is now searching for a new living situation in the highly competitive Eugene housing market.
“I just finished looking at another crap-tacular apartment,” Wardell said Sunday, after spending the morning monitoring Craigslist for new listings.
Current Westmoreland student tenants have the option of transferring into open units that have already been remodeled, but they would have to increase their security deposit in addition to paying an increased rent, according to Habenick’s letter.
Wardell said that the graduates living at Westmoreland have suffered a great loss since the University sold the property.
“There is still a lot of sadness and bitterness toward the University for selling the graduates out,” said Wardell, who participated in the protests and rallies in fall 2006 organized by the Save Westmoreland Campaign, started by student residents who opposed the sale.
The University Senate formally opposed the sale in January 2006, and the Student Senate quickly followed suit. The protests to keep Westmoreland began shortly after the University announced its intent to sell the complex in May 2006.
The University sought and was granted approval from the State Board of Higher Education to sell the complex in July 2006.
According to a University release, University President Dave Frohnmayer began discussing plans to sell the complex in 2005-06. In 2006 only 234 of the facility’s 404 units were occupied.
The $18 million generated by the sale went to purchase two properties near the site of the proposed new arena to be built on Franklin Boulevard and 13th Avenue. The properties will be used to provide parking for the arena, although the University had hoped to use them for other purposes.”Plans had not been fully developed on how (the properties) were going to be used, but the University was hoping to use them for other things,” said University spokeswoman Julie Brown.
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