Near the northwest tip of the University of Houston a section of the city’s Third Ward community is being redeveloped, with several student housing projects leading the way.
These projects are likely to drive up nearby home values, which is good news for homeowners in a neighborhood where the common list price is below $150,000 and vacant lots are prevalent.
On the flip side, increased values also likely equate to increased rents for both students and non-students leasing single-family homes in the vicinity.
On Cullen Boulevard, adjacent to campus, Dallas-based Fountain Residential Partners will develop its third student housing community for university students. The latest project will feature 531 beds and bring Fountain’s University of Houston bed count up to more than 1,300.
Because the project will rest on seven acres, the developer was afforded the ability to include townhouse units as part of the development, which according to Fountain is “unique to this market.”
According to Trevor Tollet, VP for Fountain, this project should benefit owner-occupied types living in homes near campus that are being rented out by a number of college students.
“When we built this we can take those kids out of unmanaged single-family homes and put them in our community,” he said.
The project will be near another student housing development being proposed by Teir One Commercial Real Estate. According to an article from Houston Public Media, this development will also be located on Cullen Blvd.
A “handful of homes” are said to be slated for demolition to make way for the development’s parking spaces. The development is expected to break ground by the end of March.
The university is considered the third largest college in Texas with an enrollment of around 43,000 students.
Affordable housing also springing up
Roughly eight blocks up from the area, Houston-based homebuilder Epic Homes is focusing on building affordable homes in the Third Ward Area. Currently two of its newly-built homes are listed on Trulia for $155,000 and $157,500.
Roughly two miles from campus an affordable multifamily project is slated to reach completion by May of this year. Dubbed the Village at Palm Center, the 222-unit project is being developed by ITEX.
The project features a combination of two- and three-story townhouses, mixed with apartment buildings, and received $15.3 million in federal funding from the Hurricane Ike Disaster Recovery Program, which is meant to spur the creation of affordable housing for low- to moderate-income individuals affected by the hurricane.
According to Houston-based Apartment Pulse there are no additional multifamily projects currently proposed for the U of H area.
