As the fall semester gets close to its end, many Western Carolina students are starting their search for housing for the next school year. Many students choose to live in off-campus apartments or small homes around the WCU campus.
Students have options all around the Cullowhee area, many of them within walking distance to classes, all with different sizes, amenities, and prices.
One of these options is Prospect Cullowhee, originally built as Prospect Western in 2018. It has now also expanded to Prospect Speedwell built in 2020.
Students enjoy food and chat while learning about what Prospect has to offer during the open house on Oct. 26, 2020. Photo by Emma Hodes.
Prospect Cullowhee has two locations within walking distance to campus: Western and Speedwell. They offer many options including, three-bedroom townhouses and flats, four-bedroom townhouses, flats, and cottages, and five-bedroom cottages with prices ranging from $635 to $680 per tenant.
This year the management hosted a signing day on Oct. 26 for current and future tenants. The event included a cookout, games, and an opportunity to look at floor-plans and sign leases. This is the first event like this for Prospect they hope to continue the tradition. The organizers of the event didn’t keep track of how many people came, but at the time the WCJ was at the event there were around 20-30 people chatting, eating and playing games.
“Signing day creates excitement and allows everyone to sign new leases at the lowest rate possible,” director of operations, Helen Williams said.
Williams believes that having an event like this is a great way to get students excited and interested in Prospect and what they have to offer.
“We have had lots of new leases signed today and it was great to see our current residents’ faces,” Williams said.
WCU Junior Savannah Eby attended signing day to renew her lease at Prospect Western, the older section of Prospect. Eby lived at Riverwalk Apartments her sophomore year, but switched to Prospect for the 2020-2021 school year and will be staying for the 2021-2022 year.
“I really enjoy living at Prospects, so I decided to resign my lease. The houses are so nice, and it just feels so safe here,” Eby said.
Eby believes that Prospect will gain a lot of business from hosting this signing day. The cookout and other activities they had to offer drew in many new potential tenants.
“I’ve never seen another apartment complex do something like this, so they were really smart,” Eby said.
WCU Junior Carter Rhyne has lived on campus all three years he has attended WCU, but decided he would like to live off-campus for his senior year. He toured other apartments but attended signing day to get more info about Prospect Cullowhee.
“I decided to go because they were offering a lot of info on their properties and I thought it would be a good time to see the best possible price. And the free food and games were a plus,” Rhyne said.
Prospect Speedwell was built in 2020 as were many other new student housing options. With many of these new options came some problems, including plumbing and interior and exterior issues. Speedwell, however, did not had such issues like the other new apartment complexes.
