Where's this dorm going to be built?

Agenda lists 135 NW 20th Street as the address of a four story building for student housing.

GeorgiaOwl said

Agenda lists 135 NW 20th Street as the address of a four story building for student housing.

Right next to the tracks smack dab in the middle of an industrial/commercial zone??

Ok! Sign me up!

(not)

They better put some nice glass in there…….

Rick said

Right next to the tracks smack dab in the middle of an industrial/commercial zone??

Ok! Sign me up!

(not)

They better put some nice glass in there…….

You know, in all the time I was in Boca and driving around there, I don't think I've ever had to wait for a train to cross those tracks. Just realized that.

Anyway, it otherwise sounds like it's going to be a nice place if Boca approves it. Obviously it's good for FAU to have more student housing near campus. Let's hope it opens up a trend for more off-campus housing around the university.

Apparently the petitioner asked for the meeting to be rescheduled. They just received a new site plan but didn't have traffic materials to show the Board. That's why it was delayed. I wonder if they're trying to open by Fall 2012. That would make sense. Not sure if you can build a four story apartment complex with pool and everything else between January and say late July, early August.

They come through about 6-8 times a day.......

Rick said

They come through about 6-8 times a day…….

Tell me about it, I lived in Casa Del Rio for 2 years which is a good few blocks from the tracks….could still hear them rolling through!!

For those who are interested, the City Council is expected to review this University Park project again tonight at 6:30 pm.

The agenda is here but it

ERROR: A link was posted here (url) but it appears to be a broken link.

looks like they may turn it down. Not good. Not sure if this is another roadblock or the final nail in the coffin. Their biggest worries seem to be that it's too much like a dorm on campus and students might stack a 4 bedroom with 8-10 people and violate maximal capacity. They seem to be making this way harder than it has to be in the hopes that the developer will give up.

But who knows. Unfortunately I'm committed to some other things tonight but maybe someone here can listen in here and let us know what happens.

Otherwise I'll try to find the video archive later and transcribe it.

Actually, it doesn't sound like they're trying to kill it so much as… they're trying to be very thorough to make sure all kinds of things happen that you don't even consider, like making sure cars leaving the complex don't make an illegal left onto 20th Street. They must have talked about it for about an hour, can they build a median, blah blah blah, zzzz.

Anyway…. a LOT of great quotes to put in here from this meeting:

"I want to say that I really support this project and I think this is something this city really needs."
"Maybe we need to create a district for this kind of development…"
"FAU is no longer the commuter school that you went to. This is now a major, major university."

"Our studies have shown that 30% of all apartments… in the city of Boca Raton are rented by college students." Wow. Numbers they showed as percent of resident population that are college students: Addison Park (100%), Oakwood (100%), Bicycle Club (100%), Cynthia Gardens (95%), Meadow Ranch (90%) and several more at the 2:02:15 mark. Crazy. I had no idea it was that high.

"We find that when there is less than 40% of students living in an area, there are noise complaints. Once you hit that 40% threshold, the noise complaints come way down to almost nothing because students living there and the people who choose to live next door expect it."
"FAU is definitely a force to be reckoned with."
"With the new football stadium completed, they're expecting major growth."
"There is a huge need for student housing right now…. a lot of students in today's market, they don't want to live on campus. They want their own bedrooms, they don't want to share bathrooms, they want their own closet."
"This would be a catalyst for new development along 20th street. It will get cars off Glades road, get students out of single family homes and increase tax revenue to the city projected at $4,000,000 over 10 years."

See attached rendering… sorry, it was a screen capture from the video of their Powerpoint presentation.

very cool, thanks for taking the time to listen in for us.

I want to live there!