Weyburn Terrace ““ the yet unfinished UCLA Housing project
which was slated to be done near the summer’s end ““ has
more than students waiting for its completion.
Local business owners have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of
the approximately 450 students scheduled to live in the 840
apartments.
Over 1,300 students are intended to move in by the end of fall
quarter, according to the UCLA Housing Web site, and the large
influx of students promises to have an effect on nearby
businesses.
The new graduate housing project is currently under construction
with most of the major exterior work completed. Students began
moving into their apartments in mid-July, and housing Web site
reports that all the buildings should be finished by Jan. 3,
2005.
So far, the impact of the graduate students is limited, as
evidenced by the fact that many of the business owners located on
Gayley and Weyburn avenues are even unsure of whether students have
moved in.
While John Jacob, owner of Print Run, thought none of the
students had moved in, Dave Gonzalez of Whole Foods Market asked
when all the students were supposed to have moved in.
“We’re not seeing a whole lot of (graduate)
students. Just a small portion,” Gonzalez said.
Despite the limited visibility of the graduate students,
managers and owners say they hope to accommodate them and are even
planning on specifically marketing to the new group.
“We haven’t seen a huge surge. But we are
anticipating more students,” said Annie Chew, the general
manager of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf located on the corner of
Gayley and Weyburn avenues.
Chantal Rodriguez, a first-year graduate student pursuing a
doctoral degree in theater, said that since moving into her
apartment at Weyburn Terrace she’s been coming to the coffee
shop often.
“They get most of my business. … It’s probably one
of the most frequented places by people living (at Weyburn
Terrace),” Rodriguez chuckled as she sipped her coffee and
put down her reading.
The anticipation of Chew and others has translated into a
variety of marketing strategies, including coupon books and free
food.
“We haven’t decided on anything concrete (in terms
of marketing) and we’re wondering how to do it. It’s
difficult to figure out how to target the students living there
because this is already a student location,” Chew said.
Rodriguez said she has already found coupon books outside of her
room offering 10 percent discounts for various business.
“We’re going to give out canvas bags with food and
information. … It’s a welcoming to the community,”
said Gonzalez of Whole Foods’ response to the students.
Gonzalez said one of the reasons behind the targeted marketing
campaign was the slowly increasing visibility of the graduate
students shopping at Whole Foods.
“If I’m right, they will have kitchens, so
it’s students with different spending habits. They buy more
meat, seafood and nicer wines,” Gonzalez said.
Rodriguez’s spending habits echo Gonzalez’s
sentiments, and she said she mainly shops at Whole Foods because
she has no car and Ralphs, located on Le Conte Avenue, is too
far.
“Because of the proximity, we want to market the students.
We’re planning on giving out discounts,” said Aklilu
Abebe, assistant manager at Westwood Copies.
The eagerness of business owners now comes as a contrast to the
way they said they felt about the housing project during its
construction.
“It’s much better now. The construction caused too
much traffic. It was dusty,” Jacob said.
Abebe agreed with Jacob and said that the construction made it
so customers didn’t want to come down the Weyburn hill.
But, he also recognized that the dust and traffic were
“the baggage that comes with construction” and that
construction workers tried to be as courteous as they could.