Bellaire House Condominium residents received a letter stating that they must soon vacate from Award Co. Realtors and Property Management, the company that manages the condominiums.

TCU owns the complex and will be tearing it down this summer, likely turning it into extra parking spaces until the university decides what to do with the property, said Don Mills, vice chancellor for student affairs.

Mills said TCU has not officially decided to turn the land into parking, but it will make its final decision within the next 10 days. If it does become a parking lot, it should contain about 400 spaces, he said.

“It will not forever be parking because it is too valuable of land just to be parking,” Mills said.

It could take up to two years before TCU decides what to permanently do with the land, Mills said. Some suggestions for the land are a hotel, a student residential complex or an academic building, he said.

According to a letter sent by Award Co. Realtors and Property Management, residents must vacate before midnight April 30, 2004.

However, Mills sent a letter to all student residents giving them until May 15, at no additional charge, to move out. About two-thirds of the condominium residents are TCU students, and Mills said none of them will be forced to move before the semester is finished.

Senior dance major Juliana Williams moved into the condominiums in January. She said the management company told her she would not live there for more than six months.

Mills said no residents will be asked to move before their lease is up, because all residents are on a month-to-month lease. He said every resident received or will receive at least 60 days notice that he or she must move out.

Some residents were caught off guard.

“Most residents knew they would have to move out, but didn’t know it would come so soon,” said resident Sameer Bhatia, a senior finance and marketing major.

Mills said TCU has “offered to provide campus housing in the summer or next fall if they wish.”