Southern Combats Delays to Mountain Cottages

Written by: Hayden Kobza

Southern Adventist University’s new Mountain Cottages project has had some delays, leading the university to temporarily contract with an off-campus apartment complex to house students.

According to Dennis Ngrón, vice president for Student Development, Southern has been housing students at Reflection Pointe, an apartment complex off Old Lee Highway, while construction is being completed. Marty Hamilton, senior vice president for Financial Administration, said the goal is to finish the project by Nov. 15. 

The Mountain Cottages have been constructed off-site and then placed by a crane onto their foundations, which Southern prepared. According to Hamilton, all 26 cottages have been built, but only 14 are installed.

“We have a crane coming in on Sept. 12 and 13, and we’re going to keep them here to set all 12 of [the remaining cottages],” Hamilton said. “We’re working  and hooking up all the utilities, and that’s ongoing now.”

According to Negrón, the university’s goal is for students to move into the cottages the week before Thanksgiving break so they do not have to move during finals.

“We’re going to help students move, so the onus is not just on the students,” Negrón said. “We’ll make it as easy as possible for them to make the move without a lot of stress.”

Steven Miller, associate vice president for Financial Administration, stated in an email to the Accent that most of the contracts between Reflection Pointe and Southern end July 31, 2025.

“In the coming weeks, administration will evaluate the length of the apartment contract to determine if we keep them for the entire 12 months or if we terminate the contract early, as allowed per the contract,” he wrote. 

Negrón stated in an email to the Accent that Southern is moving students into Mountain Cottages this semester because the university is paying more to house students at Reflection Pointe than the rent Southern receives from students living there.

Some students have raised concerns about living in Reflection Pointe and being moved into Southern Mountain Cottages. Houston Beckworth, a junior majoring in archeology and biblical studies, said he has heard by “word of mouth” that the project will be completed by January but adds, “I’m not sure if they’ll actually finish building everything by January.”

Beckworth said his group was notified three weeks before school started that they would be living in Reflection Pointe, which caused some frustrations. His roommate doesn’t have a car, “and if we were on campus, it would be a lot more convenient for him.” He continued, “Knowing that ahead of time would have been a lot nicer.” 

Beckworth said he looks forward to the many windows the cottages offer. “But aside from that, the cottages don’t have too many upsides compared to normal Village Proper.” 

He isn’t the only student who has voiced concerns. Roommates Branden Ermshire, a junior studying business administration; Tommy Aitchison, a junior studying computer science; and Matthew Polehna, a junior studying business finance, currently live in Reflection Pointe and have expressed their thoughts. 

The three students said they were not notified that they would be moving into Reflection Pointe until about a week or two before school started. According to the group, a fourth roommate left because of the late notification, as he was not prepared to live that far away from Southern and did not want to move twice.

Another concern they raised is that they have yet to be notified when they will move into Southern Mountain Cottages. “I don’t think [administration] knows either,” said Ermshire. The group feels like they have been left in the dark and wishes they had more communication from Southern on how long they will be at Reflection Pointe and when they will move into the Cottages.

The roommates said that the difference in size between Reflection Pointe and the Mountain Cottages “is going to be an adjustment” from the larger apartment they are living in now.

Overall, the group said that they are enjoying the experience of living at Reflection Pointe. However, they consider parking a problem at both locations. Reflection Pointe students are using Village parking stickers on their cars, and many parking spaces at Southern are not designated for Village students.

Responding to students’ concerns about downsizing from Reflection Pointe to Southern Mountain Cottages, Hamilton stated that students will be pleasantly surprised by the cottages, which include amenities. 

“You have a little bit of privacy, and everything is intentional in the design of the cottages, so there is efficiency,” Hamilton said. There are two separate sinks, and the toilet and shower are separated to give students different areas to get ready for the day without having to wait for others to finish.

 Hamilton said, “We had one senior in the summer who was here [and] he’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, this is awesome. This at not at all what I was thinking.’”

Students were notified late in the summer about the move to Reflection Pointe because of delays to the cottages, according to Negrón.

“I’d like to have [had] it ready when school started, but [there were] just too many setbacks,” Hamilton said.

Before the university could even break ground on the project, it had to revise drawings and attend public hearings to get the project approved by the City of Collegedale, according to Hamilton. He said the city cooperated with the university on its Southern Mountain Cottages, but there were some obstacles. The city was under the impression that the cottages were under the zoning of a tiny house, which the city does not allow under this type of project, Hamilton explained.

 “We probably lost two to three months of valuable construction time,” he said. 

Weather has also been a problem. 

“[The] rain has been just terrible,” Hamilton said. “… I mean, it’s been brutal on all my projects because it just makes a mud mess.” 

He said some delays were caused by the site’s construction needs,  such as breaking up rock for sewer lines and even hitting bad soil from projects decades ago. 

“Building a subdivision with 26 homes in 15 months from start to finish has been a herculean task,” Hamilton stated in an email to the Accent. “Our efforts reflect our passion to find creative solutions for our students and giving them easy access to the overall campus experience.”

According to the administration, Southern is facing population pressures, which is why new housing is being built. Both Hamilton and Negrón said they want to ensure enough housing for everyone in the future. 

The university started planning for its future growth in 2021 when Southern President Ken Shaw tasked Negrón with developing projections of what housing would look like if Southern continued to grow the way it had during Shaw’s first year.

 When he first made the housing plans based on the initial projected growth models, the growth was minimal. However, he said, “In year two, [2022], when we had the third largest freshman class in the history of the school, we hit a number that was basically like year four of the five-year plan I had. We pretty much had to throw out the plan last year.”

Last year’s freshman class was the largest in Southern’s history, and this year looks like the second-largest freshman class, which has pushed juniors and seniors out of Talge and Thatcher. 

According to Negrón, at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, Southern was able to handle the housing needs despite increased pressure. However, if the university had not added housing for the 2024-2025 school year, there might not have been enough beds for the incoming freshman and returning sophomore classes.

Freshmen and sophomores will always live in Talge and Thatcher, according to Negrón. However, juniors and seniors will need to move elsewhere, which is why the university is building new Southern Mountain Cottages and Village Proper apartments.