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| Pictured are drawings of what the fully-furnished kitchen at Lumen House will look like. (Courtesy: Conrad StudioWorks LLC) |
MADISON — In August of this year, Lumen House will open its doors to residents in the downtown area near the UW-Madison campus.
The Lumen House project allows Catholic students actively involved in the ministries of St. Paul’s University Catholic Center or the Cathedral Parish to pay rent at a reduced rate. It also offers a $100 a month, per person, rent scholarship to students actively involved with St. Paul’s.
Lumen House is located in the Holy Redeemer school building, on W. Johnson St. in Madison, which is going through an historic renovation for adaptive reuse. Groundbreaking for the project took place in September of last year.
A ‘beautiful place to live’
The project is still under construction, but is currently accepting tenants for the fall.
With 19 apartments available — varying in size from studio, one, two, three, four, and five bedrooms, along with three to five bedroom two-story penthouse suites — the complex currently has leases signed by future residents filling up about half of the vacancies. Lumen House hopes to fill the rest by the time it opens for the 2014 to 2015 school year.
Tour Lumen House |
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| Tour Lumen House Tours of Lumen House under construction can be scheduled with Forward Management. Contact Property Manager Steve Schmidt at 608-229-6650 or email him at [email protected] Open houses will be scheduled this spring. Call Forward Management or check the Cathedral Parish website at www.isth muscatholic.org for updates. |
Apartment features include:
• Cable TV and high speed Internet
• Fully furnished
• Stainless steel appliances
• Dishwasher
• Central air
• Work-out facility
• On-site laundry
• Camera surveillance system
• Indoor bicycle storage
• Twenty-four-hour emergency maintenance
“I believe that Lumen House is going to be a beautiful place to live — both physically and in the spirit of the house,” said Msgr. Kevin Holmes, pastor of the Cathedral Parish in Madison.
“It gives them [Lumen House residents] the opportunity to live with other Catholic students, kind of in a Catholic community,” said Paul Kachelmeier, member of Cathedral Parish and a volunteer working on the project.
Lumen House is described as “modern living in a historic downtown landmark.” Located steps away from State St., Lumen House promises housing with prices competitive with other apartments near the UW campus and the university dorms.
Catholic community
Lumen House will provide opportunities to build and strengthen a Catholic community.
“You can create those relationships and have that fellowship with other Catholics and the opportunity to share your faith with them and learn from each other about our faith,” said Kachelmeier.
“Lumen House is an outstanding example of collaboration between the Cathedral Parish and St. Paul’s University Catholic Center. We are using assets that each parish has to do something that neither parish could do alone in a way that is beneficial to both parishes,” said Monsignor Holmes.
Calling it home
Some existing friend groups are already planning on calling Lumen House their home.
Next year, fifth-year seniors Michael Hess and Adam McDaniel, senior Andrew Stuefen, junior Sam Gagliardi, and three others will all be sharing one of the larger apartments. They are looking forward to living together and being close to the Perpetual Adoration Chapel at Holy Redeemer Church, located next to Lumen House.
“Some of them are close friends and some are more of acquaintances that I hope will become much better friends over the course of next year,” said Hess.
“I am looking forward to the great surrounding community both in the Lumen House and nearby,” said Gagliardi.
“I am very excited about being a few yards from the Perpetual Adoration Chapel, living near the rectory, getting to know other Catholics that I wouldn’t have met otherwise through St. Paul’s, and being right off State St. — the heart of the city life for students,” said Stuefen.
“The main reason I chose to live at the Lumen House was to help incorporate my faith into every aspect of my life. Lumen House will help me do that because of the people I will be surrounded with every day, and its proximity to Mass and Adoration,” said McDaniel.
Also set to live together in Lumen House next year are juniors Sarah Campbell, Paige Lightner, and one other friend.
They all met through St. Paul’s and as Lightner puts it, “We knew we wanted to live together and we decided the Lumen House would be the perfect place.”
“I think it’ll be a really encouraging and supportive place to live and I’m excited to live in a community, not just an apartment building. Also, the building looks beautiful and I think the apartments will be pretty swanky,” said Campbell.
Why Lumen House?
All the future tenants highly recommend prospective residents check out Lumen House.
“Think about who you want to call your neighbors and what types of relationships you want to develop. Many of us want to grow in our relationship with Christ together and I can’t imagine a better place to do that,” said Lightner.
“If people are looking for high quality apartments in a prime location with a supportive community, Lumen House is a great option. The $100 discount for involvement at St. Paul’s also keeps rent affordable. In other words, ‘Why wouldn’t you want to live here?’” said Campbell.