Jamestown Sun: UJ Place opening to students next week

UJ Place in Jamestown, ND is opening for students starting next week! We cannot wait for the students to call this place home. Read the article featured in the Jamestown Sun regarding UJ Place.

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Written By: Katie Gerber | Aug 1st 2020 – 6am.

Somewhere on the ground level floor at UJ Place will house a new shop handling Starbucks Coffee. John M. Steiner / The Sun

UJ Place is, as Dustin Jensen put it, “everything you could ask for.”

“We are in great shape,” said Jensen, University of Jamestown dean of students and vice president for student affairs. “It is on schedule, on time and on budget, we’ve gotten lucky that the weather worked out- it has been an absolutely amazing year.”

UJ Place, the newly constructed five-floor mixed-use apartment complex located by Harold Newman Arena on the north side of the University of Jamestown campus, will be ready for move-ins next week. Move-in day is scheduled for Aug. 6.

“It’s a very unique building with University of Jamestown color schemes and it’ll give each student a spacious place to call home,” said McKenzy Olson, vice president of marketing and public relations for EPIC Companies. “They will be delighted to be within walking distance to campus and not have to drive. The mixed-use buildings create a way of life that students will enjoy including a live, work and play lifestyle. We are excited to be opening soon and look forward to getting all the students settled.”

The apartment-style living complex offers living space on floors two through five. There are 56 units for a total of 112 beds. The complex will house one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. The four one-bedroom units measure 630 square feet per unit while the 48 two-bedroom units range between 850-900 square feet. The four three-bedroom units are 1,190 square feet.

EPIC Companies owns and operates the facility previously announcing a $12 million investment in the project.

As move-in day approaches for students, Olson and Jensen said they are excited to see students’ reactions to the new mixed-use complex.

“I think the biggest thing that the students are going to be taken aback by is just how nice the facility is,” Jensen said. “That’s really what I am excited for them to see – it’s beautiful. It just has a splash that I think really fits the college-age student. What we know they are looking for is individual space.

“The days of the standard resident hall are not what students want anymore so it’s fun to see more and more apartment living. I think that is the part that students are probably the most excited about.”

Construction on floors three through five has been completed. Crews are now working to finish the last residential floor prior to move-in day. On the ground floor, Olson said EPIC is looking for commercial tenants to house the nearly 13,000 square feet. Knight & Day Coffee House is one business that has filled space on UJ Place’s ground floor. EPIC is currently leasing space to other interested businesses.

“We are hoping to find retail, office, food service (spaces),” Olson said. “(We are) really open to any type of business.”

“We were all about finding the right fit for students first and foremost,” said Jensen of the implementation of commercial businesses. “Students are big into coffee, we wanted to put something in that really appealed to students so that’s why we kind of came up with the coffee shop deal because that is huge for the college student – for studying, for engagement space, for everything.”

Knight & Day Coffee House will be an official purveyor of Starbucks coffee and will serve Starbucks’ full menu of coffee and beverages. The coffee house will have enough seating for 15 to 20 people.

“Our students are ecstatic, they are really excited about it,” Jensen said. “It brings a fun feel and it brings a big name to a small community that normally wouldn’t have something like that.”

The new addition to campus will feature a drive-through, as well as free parking providing easy access to those on campus and people in the community interested in trying something new.

“At UJ it is going to be a phenomenal addition,” Jensen said. “Students are already reacting positively and there’s a lot of excitement. I know that they go out into the community and use those spaces and will continue to do that but it’s really important for us to have some of those amenities here for the large number of (students) who don’t have ease of access to get out into the community.”

Olson said if other business owners are interested in leasing a portion of the commercial space to contact EPIC Companies at epiccompaniesnd.com.

“I think as we look to see Jamestown grow, it’s fun to bring in new and exciting opportunities for the community to take part in and engage up here around campus,” Jensen said. “We’re always looking forward to bringing our community here and giving them options. It will be fun to offer this as something our community can use as well.”