The East Baton Rouge Parish Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans for a 320-unit student apartment complex on Ben Hur Road at its Monday meeting.
The Woodlands of Baton Rouge is part of a planned 200-acre “Master Planned Development” adjacent to The Cottages of Baton Rouge. The Woodlands would stretch from The Cottages to Burbank Drive.
“We’ll start leasing early next fall,” said Mike Swope, a spokesman for Dovetail Companies, the developer.
Swope said students will be able to move into the complex in August 2012.
The development will mirror the Woodlands of Tuscaloosa, a complex for students at the University of Alabama, Swope said.
The Tuscaloosa complex has two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments that cost $620, $585 and $555 a month, respectively. Swope said the rates and construction in Baton Rouge would be similar.
The development was designed with college students in mind, Swope said.
The design plan for the facility shows a central courtyard with a pool, garden and basketball court surrounded by rows of apartments. Other rows branch out from there.
The plan shows the whole facility surrounded by a line of trees.
The Cottages complex, next door to the planned development, opened this semester.
When The Cottages opened, some real estate analysts predicted it would be the last student apartment built in the area for some time because of the expiration of the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, which allowed companies to write off 50 percent of the cost of building.
While developers could take advantage of that program, several new buildings popped up near campus, including Sterling Northgate, Campus Crossings at Highland and the Regent Apartments on Millerville Road.
Vacancy rates jumped when the act expired, according to the 2010 Cook Moore Report.
The Zoning Commission also approved three other projects Monday, including an addition to The Greater King David Baptist Church on Blount Road, the 30-unit Willowbrook Townhomes at Jefferson Highway and Hoo Shoo Too Road and a new headquarters for the State Police Retirement System.
—-
Contact Matthew Albright at [email protected]