to afford. The UC also proposed to tear down section B apartments, which were then 33 years old, instead of renovating or maintaining them. In 1998, 420 families had to vacate the village for the demolition of some Section B and Section A apartments. In the village master plan of 1998, the question of renovating or replacing section B was unresolved. In the master plan of 2004, the UC committed to tearing down all of the Section B apartments. Between 1997 and 2007, the cheapest available 2-bedroom apartments in University Village increased in price 330% from $410 to $1360 per month. In 1998 the University of California board of regents approved a plan to replace the older student housing at UC Village with new units. Marty Takimoto, the director of communications and marketing for UC Berkeley's residential and student services department, said that mold, lead paint, proximity to the water table, and proximity to the bay were reasons why the university chose to demolish the old housing. In 1998, 88 Section B apartments were torn down along with the Kula Gulf apartments. They were replaced by the East Village, which opened in 1999. The East Village was the most luxurious part of the Village, however it lacked both the in-unit laundry connections, as well as the laundry drying lines that had been available in Section B apartments. The East Village had 392 apartments. The cost of construction was $55,400,000. When the East Village opened the rent was $990. In 2004, the UC approved plans to demolish the remaining 412 apartments of section B housing to build the West Village. The projected cost was $118,000,000. Village residents continued to argue that the section B housing could be renovated at a lower cost. The West Village Apartments opened in July, 2006 with 258 units. An additional 324 new apartments were completed in August 2008, including 192 one bedroom units. When the West Village opened the rent was $1360. The UC reported the debt service alone for the project would be $10,600,000 per year, an average of $906 per apartment per month for the 974 apartments of the village. "Originally, West Village was intended to be similar in design to east village. Due to student protests however, the apartments were re-designed to be smaller and more economical. Still, rent in West Village in 2007 was $1360 per month, only $100 cheaper than East