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Josh Brodesky: UA-area sale has signs of new student 'community'Nov 01, 2009 (The Arizona Daily Star - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Is a student apartment complex in the works just north of the University of Arizona campus? It's hard to say, but it's certainly possible, and that has the few homeowners left in the north university neighborhood a little concerned. Developer Michael Goodman, who has made a name for himself by putting up mini-dorms north of campus, recently sold a slew of properties in the 1100 blocks of East Mabel and Drachman to American Campus Communities, a Texas-based developer that specializes in really, really big apartment complexes for students. American Campus' Web site says it has 86 "communities" with 52,800 beds. Here in the Old Pueblo, American Campus Communities' presence can be seen at Stone and University where it has the Entrada Real, a sprawling apartment complex with 363 beds. Students can rent their own rooms and bathrooms for $545 to $585 a month, which includes cable and Internet. All told, American Campus bought nine properties, mostly from Goodman, in those blocks along Mabel and Drachman. That's not enough land to build a big complex, so it would be nice to know company plans for the properties: More acquisitions? A development partnership with the UA or its foundation? A small apartment complex? But the company wouldn't say. At first, spokeswoman Gina Cowart agreed to set up an interview for this past Thursday. Come Thursday she asked for questions via e-mail so that she could find "the right people internally to provide the most accurate info." But when it was all said and done, there was no interview. Just a written statement about land banking when prices are low that had as much substance as the following blank space: Just as a side note, why is it that out-of-state developers are so often reluctant to share their plans with the communities they are affecting? The north university area is, not surprisingly, mostly rentals. And that's something Grace Rich, a homeowner and president of the North University Neighborhood Association, would like to change. "We are very against this type of development in our neighborhood," Rich said of the prospect of an apartment complex coming in. "We don't have enough homeowners to balance the students who are already living here." An apartment complex, Rich said, would make finding new homeowners that much harder. There was a time 20 years ago, Rich said, when her neighborhood had much more balance. The neighborhoods north of the UA have made headlines lately because of all of the controversy around Goodman's mini-dorms -- I call them party houses, a description Goodman disagrees with -- where roughly six or eight students students rent rooms in what might technically be a house, but certainly isn't a home. "They just destroy any kind of a feeling that it's a neighborhood," Rich said. Maybe so. But they might also reflect a march toward the inevitable. "It's a growing university. Where are you going to put the student housing right now?" Goodman said. "You either have to increase density or you increase the size of the metro area. There is no way around it." So does that mean an apartment complex between Drachman and Mabel is inevitable? Mike Chapman, a broker who specializes in multifamily housing with CB Richard Ellis, said American Campus Communities may have some challenges if it's looking at building a complex (no one is saying that's the plan). First, the land values are high -- American Campus Communities purchased the properties for $3.67 million -- which makes it hard to build something that can compete with Tucson's low rents. Zoning can be an issue, as is the cost of tearing down the existing homes. This doesn't mean Chapman isn't bullish on student housing. The university is growing and by his count there are only 12 large-scale student-oriented apartment buildings around town with close to 2,000 units and roughly 5,500 bedrooms. Last year these buildings were roughly 92 percent leased with rent averaging about $450 a bed. This year, though, the downturn has struck, and vacancy rates are closer to 16 percent, Chapman said. But that's short-term. "Long-term, the student housing market is very healthy," he said. "There is going to be more demand than can be supplied." Way back when he was a student, real estate reporter Josh Brodesky lived in some scuzzy places. But the rent was cheap. He can be reached at 573-4178 or [email protected] To see more of The Arizona Daily Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.azstarnet.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |