St. John’s campus opens new Seton apartments in Flynntown this semester

After SJU’s earth-sheltered Seton Apartments were demolished at the end of the Spring 2022 semester, SJU is witnessing exciting changes this fall with the opening of new apartments bearing the same name.

Located on the lower campus in Flynntown, the new Seton Apartments are comprised of two buildings and serve as upperclassmen, townhome-style housing for approximately 95 students, with both six-person and one-person apartments available. This new apartment complex is transforming the ways in which Johnnies build community.

“This whole area down here all of a sudden has become a kind of central place, and I think that was always the idea with the building of the McKeown Center,” said Br. Paul Richards, faculty resident for SJU Residential Life and Housing. “The Seton Apartments have really added to that.”

Students are cultivating that sense of community within their own Seton homes as well.

“The setup inside really gives everyone the freedom to shape their apartment into whatever they see fit,” SJU senior Nico Merickel said. “All my roommates and I are members of the cross country team here at St. John’s, so we’ve made our apartment like the team hangout spot.”

Merickel said that being in the new apartments helps students feel like a part of the lower campus community while also dissolving feelings of isolation from the upper campus. Furthermore, he notes that there are additional opportunities for community building among lower campus residents.

“Br. Paul organizes Sunday supper at the end of every weekend to bring the lower campus community closer together through food and fellowship,” Merickel said.

Richards also said that Seton has felt like a main place for movement this year, especially with the McKeown Center being only a short walk away from the front face of the apartment complex. The former Seton Apartments, which were originally built in 1982, had been granted by Housing and Urban Development and constructed as earth homes in an effort to provide a more sustainably efficient cooling and heating system. In time, however, plumbing, heating, and mold became a problem. Though the old apartments were known for their view of Stumpf Lake, Richards believes there is now an advantage to turning the units away from the water.

“The [old] Seton Apartments all faced the lake, and that was a nice view, but in terms of creating a community effect, it didn’t work because they were sectioned off,” Richards said. “Here, the location and the facing of the front of the house has a stronger impact on the rest of the lower campus.”

Another structure that has been leaving a positive impact on community members is the new Flynntown bridge extending over Stumpf Lake. Richards says that the bridge is used often and acts as the shortest route to the upper campus for most Flynntown residents. SJU senior Liam Miller has been utilizing the bridge for this reason.

“I find the new Flynntown bridge to be very useful since it allows me to directly cross the river and walk straight up to upper campus,” Miller said. “The bridge also comes in super handy when it comes to bike riding.”

The Flynntown bridge has additionally served as a community space for the residents of the new Seton Apartments. Richards says that they’ve recently started a new music series called “Music at the Bridge” on Friday afternoons, where student musicians come to perform as people walk by. As fall begins, the bridge contributes to the enjoyment of natural wonders SJU has to offer.

“I think it’s also a way to emphasize the rural and wooded nature of the campus. It’s another color of that palette,” Richards said.

The surrounding nature of Seton has recently seen some improvements, too. Construction rules for the apartments implemented new, environmentally conscious designs such as rain gardens so that any rain runoff can be reabsorbed before reaching the lake below. Like the thoughtful cultivation of these natural spaces, the apartments are allowing for Johnnies to develop deeper connections between themselves, their neighbors and the rest of campus.

Merickel says living in the new Seton Apartments has felt more like a home.

“I see these structures impacting the future experiences of Johnnies for generations to come because they allow students to create a culture in which to flourish,” Merickel said. “The six roommates of each apartment mold an environment that lets them succeed, have fun and grow together as young men.”