Since the hearing examiner’s decision on the application of Ambling University Development to build University Ridge, a dormitory for nearly 600 students in the Puget Neighborhood, the developer filed a motion for reconsideration of two points, i.e., the restriction of the unit size to three bedrooms or less, and the height limit of two of the buildings based on the center line of Puget St. to the immediate east of the acreage. (Check my article on that decision by clicking here.) Since that action on 4 November, the city attorney’s office responded to the motion before the hearing examiner stating, in effect, that the city supported the hearing examiner’s decision.  The applicant sent in yet more comments on 12 November but was immediately rebuffed by the hearing examiner who denied, in its entirety, the applicant's motion to reconsider.  You can read the entire exchange at the city’s website by clicking here.

The deadline to file an appeal of the hearing examiner's decision was 13 November.  I verified with the Superior Court on 15 and 18 November that Ambling had not filed an appeal, so it appears the developer will either build the project based on the hearing examiner's decision, or drop its plan to build what is now a multi-family development, also known as apartment buildings.  Although apartments are preferable to having four dormitories on this tract, the site remains a perfect one for using the city's much vaunted "infill tool kit" to provide a transition between the surrounding single family homes and the commercial and multi-family uses near Lakeway and Lincoln. 

Ambling indicated during its initial presentations on University Ridge that it wanted to begin building so as to have the units ready for the fall 2014 academic year.  That is not likely to happen, assuming that Ambling will build within the restrictions placed on it by the hearing examiner.  In the meantime, the development of 393 rental units (Phase I of 175 units – Phase II of 216 units) along Lincoln Street just south of Fred Meyer has already begun.  (Click here for info on that project and here for my article on the topic on 12 November.) This means the units will likely be rented (the target group being students) before the buildout of University Ridge’s 500+ bed facility.  How much this will affect the marketability of the University Ridge units remains to be seen.  These Ambling units were to have been marketed with higher-end rents beginning at $650 per bedroom.  Would per-person rents like this be attractive when the Lincoln St. development will presumably rent at normal market rates and the units are located much closer to shopping and bus stops?

And as a side note: The student housing market may not still be as attractive as it once was.  Several cities in the U.S. seem to be grappling with problems associated with private development of dormitories off campus. 

In Virginia: “Among the arguments swirling around University City Center and The Retreat are closely linked disputes about whether Blacksburg has enough student housing already, and whether students who now rent houses in the town’s oldest, closest-to-downtown neighborhoods will leave for new, more student-oriented developments if they are built near to campus.”  Read more here.

In Pennsylvania: “Diamond Green, a $20 million, 92-unit private apartment complex at 1000 Diamond St. [Philadelphia], was constructed last summer as high-end student housing. But for the past four months, it’s been listed for sale for $31 million. And recently, speculation has emerged that the complex has a  high vacancy rate.”  Read more here.

In Oregon: “A slew of major student housing projects are under way or on the drawing boards in Eugene-Springfield, prompting observations that the market may become flooded — if it isn’t already….Out-of-state firms diving into the market include Alabama-based Capstone, which is in the midst of building a major student housing complex downtown; Core Campus of Chicago, which has bought land for a 12-story high-rise student tower on East Broadway, but has yet to start construction; a Georgia company that has submitted plans for a student complex in the Laurel Hill Valley; an Indiana company that is looking at building a student complex in Glenwood; and a Texas firm, which has bought a motel off Franklin Boulevard with plans to demolish it and build student housing.”  Read more here.

All is not hunky-dory in private dormitory land.