Students, residents and business owners housed in the Cavalier Apartment building will soon have to move after the university announced plans to demolish the building next fall to make room for a new residence hall. The local building, built as a hotel in 1928, houses some individuals who have been there for more than 30 years.

“If I had known that this was going to happen, I would have gone to the historical society of Seattle and tried to put the building on the registry,” said Ursula Rothel, a former library technician at Suzallo Library and a resident of the building since 1978.

The UW purchased the building on Jan. 1, 2009, as a site for new student housing. It is scheduled to be demolished in September 2010, at which time construction on the new residence hall will begin. It will be open to students in fall 2012 and could alleviate the need for triple-occupancy dorm rooms.

Lower-income residents of the building can receive $1,500 from the university and $1,500 from the city for the expense of moving, but many of the building’s occupants don’t qualify. Rob Lubin, assistant director of Facilities Operations for Housing and Food Services (HFS), estimates that 60 percent of the building is inhabited by students, most of whom aren’t eligible for the cash incentive. To accommodate residents, the university lowered rent by $100 for the remaining months of their stay.

For some long-term occupants of the Cavalier, however, the building has more than monetary value.

“I received $3,000, but to tell you the truth, I would be happy to give the $3,000 back if I could keep my apartment,” Rothel said. “This is my home.”

Additionally, the low rent offered to residents of the building is becoming increasingly difficult to find in the Seattle area. Some long-term residents pay between $750-$800 per month.

“Throughout the city, old, more affordable apartment buildings are being torn down to make room for new, more expensive buildings,” said Matt Fox, president of the U-District Community Council. “It doesn’t help when the University of Washington starts contributing to the problem.”

Formerly, the university had to declare which property it was interested in purchasing in its campus master plan for conservation and development. Under a provision added to the university’s new master plan in 2003, however, this restriction no longer applies. If the change had not been made, the campus would have needed to amend the plan to purchase the Cavalier Apartments. Theresa Doherty, assistant vice president for UW Regional Relations, estimates that this process could have taken almost four years.

“With the university having to identify in advance which properties it was interested in buying, the price of those properties often went up before the university decided to purchase them for sure,” Doherty said. “[The new master plan] basically allows the university to purchase property wherever it wants.”

Some members of the U-District are concerned about the university’s expansion into residential areas.

“It’s basically becoming an institutional expansion site,” Fox said. “From the neighborhood prospective, it’s sort of a worst-case scenario that they can take over anywhere because they have very deep pockets. It’s being turned from the Ave into the campus.”

Raili Brand owns a hair salon in the building and estimates that it will cost between $20,000 and $30,000 to move her business.

“I’ve been there for over 21 years, and basically, what’s happening is I’m losing my place ... to operate my business, and it’s going to be pretty tough to find a replacement location,” Brand said.

In addition to Brand’s salon, the College Inn Pub next door stores supplies in the building, and it will also be affected by the change.

“I thought this was where I was going to live until I died,” Rothel said. “It’s a wrecking ball not only to the building, but to people’s lives.”

Reach reporter Lexie Krell at news@dailyuw.com.