Source: CVDaily Feed
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Five housing scholarships were recently awarded to Utah State University students living at 900 Factory. The scholarships were for free or reduced housing at the newest apartment complex near the university.

Rachel Romney, Property Manager for 900 Factory, says students were encouraged to submit a one-page essay to be entered into the scholarship contest.

“It was basically where have you been, what have you done to get to this point in your life and what would this housing scholarship do for you if you were to win the scholarship,” Romney explains.

She says the apartment complex received 42 entries and they were all posted on Facebook. She says every ‘Like’ was counted as a vote and at the end of the contest period the top five were selected.

The contest received over 68,000 views and many of the contestants had family and friends rally around them to help get votes. An entire community came together to support the ultimate winner of the scholarship contest.

Abbey Wilde received a full housing scholarship for a year, Sydney Karn received a $1,500 housing scholarship, Blake Christensen received a $1,000 housing scholarship, Laura Russell received an $800 housing scholarship and Ryan Lynch received a $500 housing scholarship.

“I’m just glad that I wasn’t in charge of deciding a winner because there is no way I would have been able to,” says Romney. “There are a lot of hard-working students out there who have worked really hard to get where they are at. It was so rewarding to watch the winners receive their scholarships and how grateful they were.”

Pat Nelson, CEO of Nelson Brothers (the company that owns and built 900 Factory) is an alumnus of USU and decided to reward every applicant who was currently enrolled at 900 Factory with one month of free housing.

“Giving back to the community where he went to school is very important to him, to give them a great resident life, a great property to live in,” says Lydia Robertson, National Director for Student Housing Operations for Nelson Brothers.

Robertson says the scholarship awards were so successful Nelson Brothers plans to make it an annual tradition and will add it to their other properties as well.

The property has not been without its own controversy, however. The property was once known as Aggie Factory and had many promises to students and contractors that it was unable to fulfill in its early stages. Hundreds of students signed contracts to move into the facility only to be forced to find alternative housing after construction halted. Contractors and sub-contractors were also forced to stop their work after not getting paid by Nelson Brothers. The delays became a running joke for nearly two years, and even caused a trending topic on Twitter.

“In this case we lost one of our largest investors, he passed away. That completely delayed the project,” Robertson explains. “The project was actually put on hold because he was one of the larger investors, overall, for the construction project. That definitely set us back.”

Robertson says another reason for the delays was an improving construction industry and growth along with Wasatch Front. The company was forced to wait on skilled labor and larger construction companies out of the Salt Lake area to help complete the project.

Phase one of 900 Factory was completed late last year and the first batch of residents were able to move in on January 8. Phase two is expected to be completed in early August and even more students are expected to move in ahead of the Fall semester.

The complex features amenities unlike any other student apartments in the Logan area, including double-decker hot tubs, a bowling ally, music room, ultra high speed wi-fi, two refrigerators and two dishwashers in each apartment and others.

“It’s like its own little community,” says Romney “You can get so much done.”

900 Factory is the first new-construction project by Nelson Brothers but they have existing properties near other universities in Utah as well as at Notre Dame, in Oxford, Mississippi, in Houston, Denver, Boulder and some properties in Oregon.