The owners of the same company that owns the Franklin Hotel are looking to expand into off-campus student housing, but now is not the right time.
The plan is to create apartments for students and some families, including a parking deck. If built, the Franklin housing would be a six-story building, with apartments containing up to four bedrooms on Mallette Street.
Lux Apartments and Shortbread Lofts are opening next year very close to campus, and both complexes cater mostly to students, just as the Franklin Student Housing plans to. Only time will tell if these apartments will be successful in attracting and keeping student tenants.
With a student population that has historically resided in homes, the Franklin Street Apartments may find little demand with this massive increase in supply.
There should be a lag between the opening of these new developments and the construction of Franklin Student Housing to ensure there is leftover demand.
The area in question also abuts the Cameron-McCauley historic district.
This means that the aesthetics of the development would need to stay in line with the architecture of the surrounding buildings in order to not cause a significant annoyance to the residents of the district.
Though it is hard to say its effects, this not a hoop the other developments will have to jump through.
Development in Chapel Hill is not a bad thing, the town’s infrastructure needs to grow to hold its expanding population, but it all must be done in moderation and at the right time.
