University Housing officials said Monday that, despite protests by a group of people opposed to the moving of two 80-year-old vintage homes from their original location on Moss Street, it was no longer economically feasible to maintain the houses.
The two houses, located at 1563 Moss St. and 1649 Moss St., were moved Sunday morning after being sold to Katherine Wilson, a movie producer who restores vintage homes for rent or sale.
Housing officials decided that spending the additional money to fix the houses would take away from the department’s ability to provide students with the most affordable housing possible.
“It doesn’t make sense as far as our mission to serve students,” University Housing Director Michael Eyster said.
Because Wilson has the money to spend to restore the houses, it made more sense financially to sell the houses to her, housing department officials said.
“As good business people we have to make decisions,” said Frank Gaddini, area director for University Family Housing. “We operate on very small margins of surplus each year.”
The house at 1649 Moss St., which Gaddini said was built around 1910, has asbestos covering the exterior, roof and interior floor. Gaddini estimated that the asbestos bill alone would have cost more than $50,000.
The house is also without a foundation, and its plumbing fixtures are sinking into the ground. Gaddini estimated that fixing the foundation would cost between $30,000 and $40,000.
Wilson said Saturday that she will spend approximately $150,000 restoring and moving the house.
On Saturday, protesters gathered outside the houses on Moss Street to express their dismay at the houses being moved. Gaddini defended Wilson’s decision to move the houses after she bought them.
“If you buy a used car, you’re going to take it out of the driveway,” Gaddini said.
The houses were moved farther east, to the side of Augusta Street, until a permanent place for them can be found.
University Housing’s vintage houses are located on the east end of campus. The houses occupy Columbia, Moss and Villard streets between 15th and 19th avenues. Of the 112 houses University Housing owns, Gaddini estimated that 102 of them are in great condition. He attributed some of the problems with the vintage houses to the fact that some of the houses were built before building codes were enforced.
The Moss Street houses’ switch from University to private ownership is disconcerting to Gaddini.
“It really gets to be a sad feeling because I know these houses like I know my own children,” he said.