When the Weyburn Terrace housing complex opens this fall, about
1,400 graduate students who will move in aren’t the only ones
that will benefit ““Â Westwood Village business owners are
looking forward to an expanded customer base.
Local bars especially are anticipating the new residents’
arrival. Though the majority of the campus’s 25,000
undergraduate students live nearby, most are underage and
can’t legally patronize the liquor establishments.
Martin Sok, general manager of the Westwood Brewing Company,
said though the housing is located across the Village from his
restaurant and bar, he expects increased sales.
The graduate students ““Â who may begin moving in as
early as late June ““ could contribute to a different kind of
atmosphere on nights out, Sok added.
“They are more mature. … It’ll be more down,
calmer than the younger generations,” he said.
One pitfall store owners and area residents worry about is the
amount of traffic the new housing could bring ““ along with
the students will come cars that will fill the project’s
1,225-space lot.
“It seems very packed in terms of density, which is not
good … Hopefully the cars will stay there when the students are
in class, and won’t really generate a lot of traffic,”
said Sandy Brown, president of the Westwood-Holmby Property Owners
Association.
When events like this weekend’s book festival bring
visitors to UCLA, Westwood’s main arteries, particularly
streets that lead to campus, such as Gayley Avenue, become clogged
with traffic.
But UCLA Housing Director Michael Foraker said studies conducted
during the planning stages of the Weyburn complex show the project
could decrease local congestion. Students who would have commuted
to campus will be able to walk or take a free shuttle to school, he
said.
Many area store managers say the university has not informed
them of the complex’s pending opening, but Foraker believes
their concerns are adequately addressed in the project’s
plan.
Housing representatives met with Village leaders before
construction began. The reason there is a parking space for almost
every resident that will be moving into Weyburn stems partly from
issues brought up at those meetings, Foraker said.
“It’s generally conceded there’s a shortfall
of automobile parking spaces in the North Westwood Village. We
spent a great deal of time talking about that issue with members of
our community,” Foraker said.
Some students worry that even if the project doesn’t bring
more traffic, the influx to the Village of such a large customer
population could overcrowd some establishments.
It’s near impossible for many students to find a place to
sit on a busy night at the Starbucks Coffee on the corner of
Weyburn and Broxton avenues, and customers regularly hover over
patio tables, waiting for one to open.
But Starbucks store owner Eddie Sanchez is excited that the
housing is opening about a block from his store.
“It’ll actually make us a prime destination for
students to come and study,” he said.
While Sanchez said UCLA did not inform him about the project, he
is confident his business will be able to accommodate an influx of
customers.
The Starbucks located at the Broxton and Weyburn intersection
already has plans to expand by about 1,000 feet before fall
quarter, which will help mitigate crowding that occurs if the flow
of students who study at the coffee shop becomes heavier with the
opening of the Weyburn Avenue complex.
Lonnie McDermott, manager of Maloney’s on Campus on Gayley
and Weyburn avenues, said while he’s glad the graduate
students are moving in, there are already nights when his bar is
filled to capacity.
“We’re going to be just fine with or without them,
but yeah ““ we’d love to welcome 1,400 more people. We
just can’t accommodate them all,” he said.