Building Boom

Officials Respond To Enrollment, Housing Growth

 Jeffery Vinger, University Housing's director for residential facilities (right) and Chase Taylor, project manager with Kinco Constructors of Springdale show one of the improved areas on the main floor of Hotz Hall on the University of Arkansas campus Wednesday afternoon.  Hotz Hall is one of four housing projects University of Arkansas officials have planned between now and 2020. Hotz and Founders halls are expected to open this fall and add approximately 630 bedrooms on campus
Jeffery Vinger, University Housing's director for residential facilities (right) and Chase Taylor, project manager with Kinco Constructors of Springdale show one of the improved areas on the main floor of Hotz Hall on the University of Arkansas campus Wednesday afternoon. Hotz Hall is one of four housing projects University of Arkansas officials have planned between now and 2020. Hotz and Founders halls are expected to open this fall and add approximately 630 bedrooms on campus

FAYETTEVILLE -- Enrollment growth at the University of Arkansas means there will be thousands of new heads to find pillows for in Fayetteville.

The university plans to add more than 2,000 beds during the next seven years. Even then, university officials anticipate theyll be well short of providing enough housing for all students who want to live on campus.

We have more students who want to stay on campus, but theres not room, David Davies, assistant vice provost for student affairs, said in an interview March 20.

A recent update to the universitys housing master plan identifies an on-campus deficit of about 2,800 beds in 2015. Thats after Hotz and Founders halls open this fall, but before construction is complete on two other projects along Virginia Avenue and on the campus north end.

The new projects are expected to cut the universitys housing deficit in half. That still leaves hundreds of students who will be forced to move off campus after their freshman year.

The university registrars office anticipates 28,091 students by 2015, a near doubling since 2000.

Alexis Talley of Little Rock chose to move into a private apartment complex after her freshmen year. The junior accounting major said she wanted to experience living on her own. The off-campus move presented a new set of challenges. Talley said shes learned how to cook, and security was a concern at first.

When I lived on campus, that was provided in the dorm atmosphere, she said. I have two roommates, and I like that because we can look out for each other.

Parking can also be a problem. Talley is within a five-minute walk from campus, but she said she has friends who live much further away and struggle to find a place to park while still getting to class or other appointments on time.

University and city officials plan to ease traffic congestion with several new roads, trails and sidewalks. More parking is also planned.

Meeting Information

Updated Housing Master Plan

University officials are scheduled to present their updated housing master plan to the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees buildings and grounds committee Thursday in Monticello. Florence Johnson, University Housings executive director, said the university plans to ask the board to approve a capital plan for Virginia Avenue housing in September.

Source: University of Arkansas

On-Campus Housing

University Housing has renovated dormitories and added nearly 1,900 beds on campus in the past decade. The Northwest Quad opened in 2004. Three Maple Hill dorms opened in 2008 and 2009, and the Duncan Avenue Apartments were built in 2009.

Two dorms under construction, Founders and Hotz halls, will provide on-campus living for 630 students.

The universitys housing plan calls for another 1,500 beds in two locations by 2020. The new projects are along Virginia Avenue, east of Bud Walton Arena, and on undeveloped land south of the Maple Hill dorms.

The plan identifies 1,178 bedrooms in four buildings as part of the Virginia Avenue project. Two dormitories, geared toward university sophomores, are scheduled to open in fall 2016 as Phase 1 of the project. Another dorm and a 180-bedroom apartment complex would go in before 2020.

Two 150-unit apartment buildings are planned on the north campus site between the Maple Hill dorms and the John W. Tyson Poultry Science building. No timeline has been set for that project.

Private Projects

University officials expect private developers to fill the on-campus housing gap.

At A Glance

Housing Goals

The University of Arkansas’ housing master plan update identifies eight primary goals for on-campus construction.

• Provide additional desirable, safe and affordable housing that promotes student success in the face of increasing enrollment

• Maintain the character of the institution as a residential university

• Create more diversity of unit types and university and living arrangements within the housing system

• Update, refresh and renovate existing buildings deemed valuable for the system’s future needs

• Identify and create a plan that permits the demolition of buildings whose conditions or layout are not able to be corrected with reasonable efforts or funds

• Enhance the nature of student community development and academic success

• Enhance the role of housing as a positive factor in the recruitment of students

• Create a series of actions, over a defined timeline, that are financially feasible and supportive of the above

A companion document for Greek life identified several locations on campus where new fraternity and sorority houses could be built.

Source: University of Arkansas

Its always good if students have choices and options for where they want to live, said Florence Johnson, University Housings executive director. Private development is a good thing for the city and the university, she said.

Developers have responded to what they view as an opportunity in the Fayetteville market. Seth Mims, a partner with Specialized Real Estate, said enrollment has skyrocketed in recent years, but housing hasnt kept pace, especially close to campus.

Fayetteville is our hometown, and we saw the need for quality, purpose-built collegiate housing in walkable locations, Mims said.

Specialized Real Estates Sterling Frisco apartment complex, at West Avenue and Lafayette Street, is one of six 400-plus-bedroom complexes for university students city officials have approved since 2011.

The Grove apartments opened last year off South School Avenue. Developers of the Vue, which overlooks Fayetteville High School; the Domain, south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard at Beechwood Avenue; and Sterling Frisco plan to have students moved in for the 2013 fall semester. Mims company wants to have another high-rise apartment complex south of West Center Street, between Duncan and Harmon avenues, completed by fall 2014.

Specialized Real Estate planned to open a third complex for young professionals and empty nesters south of Lafayette Street where the University Baptist Church activity center is located. Mims said Friday the 600-bedroom complex will now be geared toward university students. He said he plans to open the apartments in 2015.

University officials were aware of planned growth in the private market when they updated their housing plan. A December 2011 study by CDS Market Research in Houston analyzed many of the apartments being built. The study concluded private apartments, if built to students standards, will offset some of the need for on-campus housing. But, CDS added, there are adequate demand factors to support the construction of multiple types of additional on-campus housing.

Specialized Real Estate completed its own market analysis, but Mims declined to discuss its findings for proprietary reasons.

The citys Planning Division was also involved in locating sites for development.

Every one of the projects on the private side ... came into our office with site selectors and asked, What properties are available, said Jeremy Pate, Fayetteville Development Services director. What we have done is to facilitate a focus on infill where possible.

Infrastructure Improvement

University growth increases the need for new streets, sidewalks, trails and utilities.

The city, university and Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department plan to begin a joint project to widen Razorback Road later this year from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Leroy Pond Drive. City Engineer Chris Brown said the estimated cost is $2.6 million.

Brown and Mike Johnson, the universitys associate vice chancellor for facilities, are coordinating efforts to realign Stadium Drive where it meets Virginia Avenue and Clinton Drive to make way for new dorms and apartments. The project will essentially make two streets one and will give drivers a straight shot through campus from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Maple Street.

Thats a very complicated, twisting and turning stretch of street, Johnson said. Where its narrow with a kink, well smooth it up.

The first phase of the realignment project is acquiring property on both sides of Virginia Avenue and west of Virginia on Clinton Drive. James Ezell, university director of risk and property management, said March 21 university officials have bought 14 rental houses on 3.5 acres since 2000. Davies said a handful of houses still need to be purchased. The houses will be razed to make way for new student housing. Until then, the university is acting as landlord for the properties.

Mike Johnson said the Fayetteville School District installed a 12-inch water line in the area as part of the high schools renovation and expansion, which is expected to wrap up in 2015. The university plans to build its own utility plant next to Pomfret Hall.

The Virginia Avenue housing projects will also require extending Leroy Pond Drive and adding more than 800 parking spaces in the area. The city will have to vacate Clinton Drive west of Virginia.

Its unclear who will pay for all of the infrastructure improvements. Johnson said the university is responsible for acquiring right of way. Brown said it will be up to City Council members to determine how much road money theyll give.

The university is certainly important, and these are projects that were looking at, but we have to balance that with all the other work that needs to be done in the city overall, Brown said.

Web Watch

Housing Master Plan

Go to the online version of this story at nwaonline.com to read a full copy of the University of Arkansas housing master plan update.

Brown said developers are responsible for infrastructure improvements associated with their projects. The university, as a state institution, is not subject to the same requirements.

The city continues to work on sidewalk and trails in an effort to provide better pedestrian paths for university students and to take more cars off city streets.

Weve just got to keep looking ahead and stay ahead of things we see coming up, Brown said. Sometimes the city is reactive, but thats just the way it is. As a city, youre always behind in your infrastructure improvements.

Dan Craft contributed to this report.

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