University ends Hopkins Inn lease

Due to the smaller incoming freshman class, the Hopkins Inn will not house  students for the 2016-2017 school year.

The University uses the Hopkins Inn as overflow housing when the incoming class size is projected to be larger than 1300 students. Tracey Angel, director of housing and operations, discussed the purpose of  the Hopkins Inn in an email to The News-Letter.

“In 2012, the class over enrolled by 82 and in 2014 by 96, for example,” Angel wrote. “Based on the projected class size of 1300, the freshmen for Fall 2016 will be housed in AMR I and II, Buildings A and B, Wolman and 3 wings in McCoy (Terrace, 1E and 2E). There will be some triples in Buildings A and B, but not too many.”

The University does not own the Hopkins Inn. Johns Hopkins Facilities & Real Estate (JHFRE) has been leasing it yearly from Stratford University.

Angel emphasized that the University will spend less money by ending the lease of the Hopkins Inn next year.

“It isn’t that we save money by not leasing the Hopkins Inn. It is that we do not lose money by renting it,” Angel wrote. “There are a lot of expenses involved in the rental of the Inn.”

Angel explained the various expenses and extra efforts associated with leasing and maintaining the Hopkins Inn every year. This includes not only the maintenance and leasing price, but also the costs associated with hiring additional RAs and security.

“When we choose to use the Inn, the related expenses are higher than the residence halls for the 60 students who reside there,” Angel wrote. “There is additional work... including the housing office making assignments, contracting for additional security, laundry and addressing student concerns, residential life staffing and programming, and the facilities and maintenance issues over and above what housing maintenance and custodial staff normally maintain.”

Freshmen currently living in the Hopkins Inn responded with mixed reactions to the news that the building would be closing next year. Freshman Ryan Lucas explained that living in the hotel during his freshmen year made the transition to college more difficult.

“While I’ve managed to turn it into a slight positive, it definitely is isolating and has taken away from my social experience,” Lucas wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “It was lacking in a lot of ways.”

Freshman Eva Izquierdo acknowledged Lucas’ sentiments, but also praised many of the building’s facilities. She believes that the Hopkins Inn fostered the formation of a unique and close-knit community.

“Hop Inn is a great source of community and a great source of isolation at the same time,” Izquierdo wrote in an email to The News-Letter. “You’re trapped in a building with 60 people, which is weird because buildings like the AMRs have 60+ people on a floor. At first that sounds bad but everyone knows each other here, and we help each other out and it’s nice. Also the rooms consistently have a lot of floor space and we have really nice, private bathrooms!”

Despite the benefits of a tight-knit community, Izquierdo admitted that she had witnessed the building struggle with a variety of maintenance concerns throughout her time there.

“Hop Inn itself has a lot of maintenance issues that have been temporarily fixed, but probably would never have a permanent solution,” Izquierdo said. “I think that average response time to a maintenance issue is around three days, even if it’s important or affects everyone.”

Izquierdo additionally cited a perceived lack of resources as one of the key inconveniences of living in the Hopkins Inn.

“We don’t have water fountains, and we don’t have J-Card readers to swipe us in. When people lose their keys to the front door, everyone has to get a new key and they change the locks,” Izquierdo said.

Freshman Zack Buono elaborated on the benefits and drawbacks of living in the Hopkins Inn.

“I have mixed feelings about the Hopkins Inn closing its doors as a college dorm,” Buono said. “I like to best describe the Hop Inn as like having a third elderly roommate who constantly smells vaguely bad and who likes to keep mice as pets. Sure, it sucks that you have to constantly receive apologies about your living situation and the walk to the FFC seems like an eternity, but I’ve grown to love the Hop Inn as time has gone by. I have made some very close friends because of where I live and I do appreciate the uniqueness that is the Hopkins Inn. Will I miss it? Probably not. But will I remember it for years to come? Most definitely.”

Angel said that the University will begin moving out property from the Hopkins Inn once the 2015-16 school year ends, and the hotel will most likely be opened to the general public.

“We are moving our furniture, door locks, wifi hardware, etc. out by the end of May, when our lease ends,” Angel wrote. “My understanding is that the owners will again open it as a Bed and Breakfast for visitors to the community.”