FAYETTEVILLE -- Specialized Real Estate Group's latest apartment project signals a shift away from the rent-by-the-bedroom student complexes the company has built in downtown Fayetteville in recent years.
This time, Specialized representatives envision a rent-by-the-unit apartment complex with space for 464 tenants on the north end of town, across Steele Boulevard from the Malco Razorback Cinema and Academy Sports store.
At A Glance
Fayetteville Planning Commission
Also on Monday, planning commissioners:
• Approved, 7-1, a variance to the city’s streamside protection ordinance for 11 lots in the Stonebridge Meadows subdivision.
• Unanimously tabled a rezoning request that would allow a mix of residential and commercial development on 1.9 acres north of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, between Wood and Willow avenues.
Source: Staff Report
"Our focus is definitely market-rate apartment development," Seth Mims, partner and president of the Fayetteville-based company, said Monday, after a Planning Commission meeting where the project was unanimously approved.
Mims said the Uptown Apartments will appeal less to University of Arkansas undergraduates and more to young professionals -- even those who commute to work in Benton County each day.
"We believe young professionals want to live close to Fayetteville because of the culture and entertainment options," Mims said.
He called off-campus student housing "a big demand curve that needed correcting." And many of the developments Specialized has built to this point have sought to fill that demand.
The company partnered with the Dinerstein Cos. of Houston to build the 640-bedroom Sterling Frisco apartments just down Maple Street from the Inn at Carnall Hall in 2013. The Cardinal at West Center, a 471-bedroom apartment complex just south of the university's Harmon Avenue Garage, opened in August.
Another 1,310 student bedrooms are planned at Beechwood Village, near Baum Stadium, and Harvey's Hill, across Duncan Avenue from The Cardinal. Those developments are scheduled for fall 2015 and fall 2016 openings, respectively.
Like other Specialized projects, the Uptown Apartments are planned in close proximity to the city's trail system. The southern end of the complex borders the Mud Creek Trail, and, according to Chris Baribeau, project architect with Modus Studio, the trail will be extended to run through the development.
"The project will privilege walk-ability and bike-ability over drive-ability," Baribeau said in a Sept. 17 letter to city planners.
"Residents and guests can spend an entire day attending to all of their business and/or leisure needs within a less than 2-mile radius," he added.
Commercial storefronts and parallel parking are planned on the west side of Steele Boulevard. Developers will be responsible for adding pedestrian signals and crosswalks at the stoplight where the main entrance to the Razorback Cinema is located.
Apartment tenants will park in surface lots, rather than a multilevel parking garage -- like at other Specialized developments.
Mims said he expects construction to begin in early 2015 and take 12 to 18 months to complete.
"It looks like a really good project," Commissioner Porter Winston said during Monday's meeting.
NW News on 10/28/2014