MetLife Inc. and Trammel Crow Co. are planning a $24 million apartment project on Jefferson Avenue near the Cincinnati Zoo, with up to 140 units and a mix of amenities aimed at attracting graduate students and hospital workers.
"With the university shutting down a couple of their grad-style dormitory buildings, we hope to build something that will be attractive to that clientele," said Richard Dickason, a vice president in Trammell Crow's student-housing practice based in Boston. "We're looking to start construction first part of next year and be ready for a fall 2010 opening."
Dubbed The Stratum on Jefferson, monthly rent will range from $800 for studio apartments to $1,500 for two-bedroom units. Amenities will include a fitness center, media rooms, business center and a parking space for every bedroom. Under a venture with insurer MetLife, Trammell Crow has opened similar projects near Drexel University in Philadelphia and the University of Memphis.
Enrollment boosts rates
Trammell Crow recently signed a purchase contract for a site owned by the Uptown Crossings Community Urban Redevelopment Corp., a nonprofit that bought the property from the zoo in 2005. The group has worked with UC and local hospitals to attract various projects, including a failed bid to land a $70 million National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health research lab.
But Monica Rimai, UC's senior vice president for administration and finance, said rising enrollment is having a positive impact on rental rates near campus. That could help the new project in the long run.
"This is a tough market. We have to be patient," she said.
UC is stimulating new demand for off-campus housing by closing two dorms for renovation this summer. Todd Duncan, UC's director of housing and food services, said the $10 million renovation will convert two buildings now used primarily by grad students to one that houses younger students. The buildings, near the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Martin Luther King Boulevard, are known affectionately on campus as the "ugly sisters." After the renovation, the buildings will employ a "twin bed approach" for up to 900 students.
UC enrollment is expected to reach a 17-year high this fall of 37,300 students. Duncan said its 3,200 on-campus beds were 95 percent full this year.
