Consider it either a referendum on the school’s vitality and popularity … or on its meager state funding and therefore dorm space. But, Lord almighty, does Indiana University come dense with off-campus housing. So much so that, charming as it is, Bloomington, Ind., can present less as a Midwest college town than as a collection of apartments, townhouses and villas, with a major state university tacked on.
Having realized years ago that there was—and is—a fortune to be made as a developer catering to students, Scott May is among the largest real estate holders in town, the baron of thousands of rentable apartment units. Which is ironic because there was a time when May’s dalliance with Bloomington apartment living imperiled one of the signature events in IU history: the 1975–76 Hoosiers’ perfect 32–0 basketball season, the last time a Division I men’s college team went baseline to baseline without losing a game.
