Midby Cos., a local redevelopment company, has begun work on demolition work on a University of Nevada, Las Vegas student housing project, near Maryland Parkway and Cottage Grove Drive.
The three-phased, $76 million project will redevelop the existing University Park Apartments — a 1960s garden-style apartment community — into the U District, a planned contemporary student housing community.
The university will own the land, which it purchased in 2015. Midby has entered into a 40-year ground lease with UNLV on the project to redevelop and operate the property for student housing.
New construction will begin in May on the 758-unit building that will be known as The Degree. The project is slated to have residents in the fall of 2017. The Korte Co., a national design-build construction company, will be the general contractor on the project.
“The Degree, when finished, will be unlike any other student housing community in Las Vegas,” said Eric Midby, chief executive officer and director of development for the Midby Cos. “We are creating a timeless design that really fits in with the UNLV campus and gives students the urban lifestyle that one imagines when living in Las Vegas. Our goal is for students to have a private, comfortable and convenient place to call home during their college years.”
Floor plans include a two-bedroom double occupancy unit, a two-bedroom single occupancy unit and a four-bedroom unit with single occupancy options that include a bathroom in each unit.
The units will all be fully furnished and include a washer and dryer; the entire property will be equipped with Wi-Fi.
The Degree will include amenities such as a fitness center, study rooms and media and social lounges. The property will also include a 2,000-square-foot pool, with lounge areas, cabanas and grill stations. Asset Campus Housing, a Houston-based third-party property management firm, will manage the community.
The next two phases in the U District’s redevelopment will occur within the next 10 years. The remainding units pegged for redevelopment are currently being renovated and rebranded as Legacy LV. These units will come available to students by fall 2016.
New UNLV hospitality school under construction
Hospitality Hall, a replacement building for the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, is on its way to having students and teachers walking its halls and classrooms.
The $59 million project broke ground recently on the planned 93,000-square-foot facility. The planned structure will sport a high-tech kitchen, a student-run café and Strip views, along with classroom, a laboratory and meeting space.
The planned project is scheduled to open in early 2018, though William F. Harrah College is still raising donations for the future structure. The school currently has a $7.5 million shortfall on its $30 million fundraising goal, which state lawmakers allocated to the project so it could get underway this year.
The project is years in the making. Harrah’s Entertainment, prior to the recession, had promised $25 million to the project if UNLV could match it with fundraising and state funds. But that plan withered away with the economic downturn. Today, the project’s private funding comes at the tune of about $20 million from several sources: Las Vegas Sands, Konami Gaming, MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment.
Prologis ranks Las Vegas fourth in industrial rental rate growth
A new annual rental index report for the industrial market put out by Prologis, a global industrial developer, ranked Las Vegas fourth in rent growth rates in 2015.
The index tracks trends in net effective rents in 57 major markets, on a global level, where Prologis has holdings.
Las Vegas sits just above Cincinnati but was beaten out by the San Francisco Bay Area in the first position, followed in descending order by Chicago and Nashville.
The top-tier pricing markets sit across the Atlantic Ocean in London and the southeast U.K. in the lead for pricing. That region was followed by Tokyo, Singapore and Osaka, Japan.
On the growth side, the U.S. had a positive trend upward of 9 percent in rental rate growth, with a 25 percent increase over the past few years.
According to the report, low vacancies are a universal phenomenon across the U.S., and there is heavy competition for available space, which is leading rental rates higher. Prologis’ future outlook predicts vacancies will stay low in the near term. As growth continues, rental growth will normalize, the report predicted.
