Student-Housing Rush Might Be Out of Line

It seems developers can’t swoop in fast enough to cash in on the enrollment and the resulting student housing crunch at the University of Arkansas.

You might recall in September we told you that the Texas property management company Asset Campus Housing was planning to develop the site of the former Love Box Co. on Beechwood Avenue into an off-campus housing development with 648 beds.

Now, we’ve learned a Florida group has also been given final zoning approval to develop another student-housing facility in Fayetteville.

Tampa-based 908 Development Group is drawing up plans for The Standard at Fayetteville, adding 192 units and 570 beds to the Fayetteville market.

The 14-acre property will include two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments with a centralized 6,000-SF clubhouse.

The address hasn’t been finalized, but we hear the site is at the southeast corner of West Jewell and North Salem roads, just south of West Wedington Road.

Of course, these units are being built in anticipation of continued growth at the university, but beware.

This flurry of activity — and this includes the two downtown apartment developments being presented by Jeremy Hudson and Seth Mims — smacks of the boom days around here.

Everybody went out to address the same problem, when, in fact, you don’t need everybody to address the same problem.