Complex To House Students

The Chapel Ridge Apartments complex, which targets UNC students, is scheduled to open for the fall 2003 semester after two to three years of planning, said Svein Dyrkolbotm, the development's contractor.

Chapel Hill Town Council member Flicka Bateman pointed to the development as a potential home for students before voting to restrict duplex construction at Monday night's meeting.

Council member Mark Kleinschmidt said more than 500 people will be able to find a home in this new development, designed particularly for students.

"The target market is students," Kleinschmidt said.

The complex will be located off Airport Road, behind the Wilco gas station, with an entrance through Brookstone Apartments on Homestead Road.

Kleinschmidt said some Brookstone residents have raised complaints about the new development.

"The Brookstone people are a little concerned about how much traffic will be going through there," he said.

But he said the road through Brookstone is a public thoroughfare and the entrance most likely will not be changed.

Kleinschmidt said few people would be affected by the duplex ban, despite student concerns, but those who were looking for new duplexes might consider Chapel Ridge Apartments as an alternative.

Dyrkolbotm, a contractor from the developing company Davis & Sons of Florida, said the development will include 180 dwelling units.

He said a maximum of 550 bedrooms will be constructed with units featuring two, three or four bedrooms.

"Since it will be mainly student housing, each bedroom will have a personal bathroom," he said.

He said his company must build 24 units of affordable housing, each with one bedroom and one bathroom.

"The town of Chapel Hill required us to include affordable housing as part of the development," Dyrkolbotm said.

Bill Stockard, assistant to the town manager, said there must be a certain percentage of units that would allow for medium-income individuals or families to afford housing in each complex.

"They must be affordable for the average medium income," Stockard said.

Dyrkolbotm said the student housing units will be fully furnished and will include television, Internet access and furniture in each room. The affordable housing units, however, will not be furnished, he said.

All dwelling units will include a dining room, kitchen, utility room with washer and dryer, living room and a balcony, he said.

Dyrkolbotm said rent rates have not yet been determined because developers are studying and comparing prices of other complexes.

He said that pre-leasing should be ready in March 2003 and that renters could move in as early as summer 2003.

Kleinschmidt said the development will open up new housing opportunities for University students.

"It's a complex like Mill Creek, targeted to students, and although it may not be as convenient in distance, it will still be helpful in finding students a place to live."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.