The Pitt-Johnstown College Park Apartments along Theatre Drive, which have been condemned since July 2013, are to be renovated beginning in April, according to Finance and Administration Vice President Amy Buxbaum.

Buxbaum said the rennovation’s design was completed earlier this month.

“We are still waiting for a full construction schedule, (and) we (university officials) expect the construction will take eight to 10 months,” she said.

Buxbaum said the renovation is to include new heating and air conditioning systems, a new roof and extended Wi-Fi range.

New lighting and carpeting, bathroom upgrades and kitchen renovations for half of the units that had not been renovated previously are also included.

New furniture is to be added to these units as well, Buxbaum said.

“The project was approved with a $6.5 million budget,” she said.

Student Affairs Vice President Shawn Brooks said the units are more like apartments than regular student housing.

Former Pitt-Johnstown student Yuan Meng, who is now a senior at the Oakland campus, said she lived in the apartments in 2012.

Yuan said the unit included two bedrooms, a bathroom and a kitchen.

“What I liked about it was that it had a spacious kitchen,” she said.

“I found it less satisfying that the furniture was mainly old, and the air-conditioner didn’t work very well.”

Yuan said transportation was satisfactory for her since there was a shuttle to and from campus.

Sophomore Nicholas Wolf said he would like to live in the apartments once they open.

Wolf said he would like to try living off campus.

“If you’re off campus, then you get a different experience,” he said.

“Maybe explore the city of Johnstown.”

Wolf said that although he knows little about the apartments, one of his friends had suggested living there once it reopens.