The Drury Mirror

Issue date: 9/26/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Micah McClaren This house sits at Benton and Webster Streets and is now home for Dr. Petrich and his family, who moved in on Labor Day weekend.

Media Credit: Micah McClaren Scott Petrich relaxes in his new home near Drury campus. Petrich is one of several Drury faculty and staff members that has taken advantage of the nearly $5000,000 in loans granted.

Drury University is making it easier for faculty and staff members to move within walking distance of campus.

The Midtown Loan Program, a partnership between Drury and the Southwest Teachers Credit Union (SWTCU), is bringing many changes to the Drury community. Now, 24 faculty and staff members live in the Midtown area.

How does it work? Drury employees can get reduced interest rates on home mortgage and equity loans from SWTCU if they buy within the area bounded by Chestnut Expressway, Boonville Street, Locust Street and Sherman Avenue.

Rusty Worley, Drury's vice president for administrative affairs, says the program to enhance the Midtown area relates to Drury's theme this year, Sustainability.

"We are breathing life into these homes and preserving their character," Worley said. "When people invest in homes, they have incentive to take care of them and it lifts the appearance of the neighborhood and surrounding community."

Drury hopes the program will improve the Midtown neighborhood by encouraging single-family residences, as opposed to renters.

Worley himself lives in the neighborhood and enjoys being able to walk to the office, school, campus sporting events and concerts. He has even made the 20-minute walk to Hammons Field to enjoy some baseball with his family.

Worley believes this center-city area has a more diverse population and a different experience to offer than the Springfield suburbs. He said it is "important to have faculty and staff within walking distance and to be more engaged on campus."

Chemistry Department Chair Mark Wood and his wife, Marie, were the first to move into a house through this program. Moving into the former site of the Kappa Alpha fraternity house in February 2004, Wood believes that Midtown will eventually be "the place to move."

"This inner-city revitalization, with new development of Jordan Valley, the baseball stadium, nice restaurants and lofts downtown" are helping to lift Midtown, Wood said. This new program will enhance the area by providing Drury families who will care for the houses.

According to Drury, the equity loan discount is 0.75 percent from the market interest rate for the first five years of the loan. Drury increases the faculty's salary each month to cover another 0.75 percent of the interest for the same year period. This totals to a 1.5 percent discount on market interest rates for five years, and the payments are automatically taken from their SWTCU account.


Midtown gains Drury residents

The mortgage savings could total up to $7,248 over the five years on a $100,000 30-year loan.

By the end of the year, about $500,000 in loans will have been given, according to Worley.

"[This program] represents an excitement; people investing in the larger campus community because they are excited about the opportunities here," Worley said. "And the people moving in appreciate the college lifestyle and interacting with college students."

Scott Petrich and Katherine Coy are the most recent faculty to invest in such homes; both plan to close on the houses in November.

For the Petrichs, the convenience of living so close to campus was too good to pass up, with two boys that go to swim practice at Drury's pool everyday. Since moving in on Labor Day weekend, Petrich said, "we now eat dinner as a family at our dinner table rather than one or two of us at the swimming pool or in the car.

"It is much more of a community here than where we were living before. This was a big reason for us to move to Midtown."

With the incentive, convenience and many benefits from this program, Drury hopes to attract more faculty and staff to the area, and according to the Drury website, "help knit stronger ties between Drury and its surrounding community, a key to helping Drury flourish."

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