Phase II of privatized student housing, otherwise known as the Seahawk Landing apartments, is scheduled to be completed in July 2007 and offers a wide range of previously unavailable amenities.

Seahawk Landing, a $36 million project, will feature seven buildings with 179 apartments configured in two-, three- or four-bedroom layouts. The buildings are designed and placed to promote a pedestrian street atmosphere. Most of the buildings are parallel to another, and in between is a walking space with trees, benches and several shops and facilities.

Each individual apartment comes fully furnished with a desk, dresser and other such basic pieces of furniture. A washer and a dryer are included in every apartment, nullifying the need to carry your dirty laundry down three flights of stairs and across a few hundred feet of hallway when you’re out of clean clothes. Future residents will also be excited to know that instead of the normal-twin sized beds featured in most current dormitories, the new apartments will offer full-sized beds.

The amenities offered by Seahawk Landing are unrivaled by anything UNCW has yet to offer in an on-campus living area. Fitting right into the street style theme are a swimming pool, coffee shop, fitness center, mailroom and convenience store.

A vendor for the coffee shop has yet to be determined, but whatever contract is issued in Randall Library will probably also apply to the Seahawk Landing location. The fitness center isn’t meant to replace the Student Recreation Center, according to Ed Shuford, the project manager for Seahawk Landing, but it is meant to be a place to go when circumstances prevent a student from hiking over to the SRC. Inside the fitness center are various machines and treadmills but no free weights. The Seahawk Landing convenience store will be four times bigger than its current counterpart behind Graham-Hewlett and will house everything from groceries to cleaning supplies.

“The rates for Seahawk Landing will be the same as the rates for Seahawk Village. A four-bedroom apartment will cost each student $2,156.00 per semester for 2007-2008. A three-bedroom apartment will cost each student $2,246.00 per semester for 2007-2008. A two-bedroom apartment will cost each student $2,313.00 for 2007-2008,” said Brad Reid, director of housing and residence life, in an e-mail interview.

All utilities-electricity, sewage, basic cable, high-speed internet, water and local phone service-are included in the prices listed above. The only thing not covered is a long distance phone service.

Seahawk Landing will be constructed in the same Neo-Georgian architectural style that has been prevalent on the UNCW campus since the ’80s. This aesthetically pleasing style is the reason most buildings on campus are short.

“We’re not going to see anything above four stories for awhile,” said Shuford.

The project is scheduled to be completed this summer, probably in July. Students will be able to move in on Aug. 1, 2007, as originally planned. Registration will take place online, not on site, so unlike the Seahawk Village scramble last year, students won’t have to camp out all night to secure a spot. About 200 students who camped out for an apartment in Seahawk Village but did not get one will have first call on Seahawk Landing, and after that the order of priority will go from seniors to juniors to sophomores. Freshmen will not be able to live in Seahawk Landing.

Online registration began last Thursday at noon and will continue until the 609 beds in Seahawk Landing have all been claimed.