University purchases off-campus parking lot, parking fees to rise

Ben Wimmer

Last month, UNCW Corporation bought the former Cinema 6 movie theater at 5335 Oleander Drive for $2.5 million. According to the university, the lot is expected to bring about 337 new spaces of student parking to UNCW.

The university does not expect the lot to be open for use until the fall 2006 semester. UNCW already owns and operates a 321-space parking lot across College Road opposite the university which also used to be a movie theater.

The new parking lot will transport students to and from campus using the same type of shuttle service as the current College Road parking lot. The purchase comes after UNCW announced that it would be building a 600-space, $12 million parking deck, which was later canceled because of cost.

In a report published in The Seahawk last October, it was estimated that students would have had to pay $120 more per year for parking passes if the proposed parking deck were to have been constructed.

According to a report published in the Star-News, student parking fees are expected to go up in the 2006 fall semester from $172 to $218 for on-campus parking and from $130 to $174 for off-campus parking. The university is also considering purchasing another off-campus parking lot at 4702 N. MacMillan Ave., which could provide around 175 new parking spaces for UNCW.

University administration that was involved in the development of the new off-campus parking lot was not available for comment at press time. For updates on UNCW’s student parking situation, log on to The Seahawk’s website: www.theseahawk.org.