Blog - University Park: A gated community for college students
This is about as far as you can get from dorm life.
After a year of construction, University Park, an off-campus student housing complex, is due to open April 30 in Boca Raton.
The 598-bed development at 135 N.W. 20th St. has plenty of perks to impress college kids: a lounge with six big-screen televisions, a game room, fitness center, pool, a small food store and a yoga studio.
Moms and dads may get more of a kick out of the computer labs, conference rooms and study nooks.
“The parents are the ones paying the rent, so they have to be convinced that this will be a good experience for the kids,” developer Rick Giles said Monday during a tour of the facilty.
The 279,000-square-foot development is north of Glades Road about a mile from Florida Atlantic University, but it also will serve students of Palm Beach State College and Lynn University.
Giles Capital Group partnered on the project with Rosemurgy Properties and Lewis Rental Properties. They say they aren’t aware of another off-campus housing community in Palm Beach or Broward counties built specifically for students.
Rental rates range from $899 to $1,200 per bed per month. The 159 two-, three- and four-bedroom units are fully furnished with private bathrooms and washers and dryers. The 11-acre complex is gated and professionally managed.
A free shuttle will make a continuous loop to FAU and PBSC, and the developers are working on establishing a shuttle to and from Lynn, Giles said.
The complex is expected to get its certificate of occupancy next week. The developers expect a waiting list for beds by the time classes start this fall.
Alex Rosemurgy, head of Rosemurgy Properties, said he hopes to arrange pep rallies and professor-led study sessions at University Park.
“We really hope this becomes part of the university and student life off campus,” he said.
Marshall Sklar, a real estate broker for Boca Raton-based Florida’s Best Realty Services, said the development will fill a void in the market. Landlords often consider students high-risk tenants, so finding off-campus accommodations isn’t as easy as many people think, Sklar said.
“It’s going to spread like wildfire,” he said of demand at University Park. “It will fill itself up, just by being what it is and where it is.”
Last year, Giles and Rosemurgy acquired two nearby rental properties and converted them to University Square and University View, both student housing complexes. The firms say they have invested more than $100 million in the corridor with all three projects.
In March, Giles and Rosemurgy said they formed a new company, Deerfield Beach-based Park Partners Residential, to own, develop and manage multifamily real estate ventures.
Park Partners is set to begin construction on 251 units near Nova Southeastern University in Davie and also plans to build luxury units on Lyons Road in Coconut Creek. The developments will be traditional rentals and not student housing.