An Indiana-based developer has secured a $33.6 million construction loan to start work on a 750-bed, 188-unit student housing community near the University of Central Florida.
After finalizing the mortgage agreement with Citizen Bank National on June 30, an entity affiliated with Trinitas Ventures then closed on the land at 4742 Data Ct. — north of Corporate Boulevard, west of N. Alafaya Trail — for $3.7 million.
The 6.25-acre property sits roughly two miles west of UCF’s main campus within the Quadrangle PD, a site once entitled for office space that’s now primed for several housing projects. If all get approval, they’ll bring a total of 1,700 student beds and 305 multifamily dwelling units to the area.
As one of the nation’s largest public universities, UCF has a need for more off-campus housing, Mark Schlueb, the college’s director of strategic communications, told GrowthSpotter.
In the 2021-2022 school year, the college had more than 70,000 students enrolled. It has 7,200 student housing beds on campus.
To help students get to and from class, UCF offers shuttles between campus and 22 local student residential communities.
“Our on-campus housing has always been in high demand,” Schlueb said, “but over the past few years we’ve seen our housing units fill up very quickly. Given this demand, many students choose to live in one of the many nearby off-campus apartment complexes designed for specifically for students.”
Trinitas is looking to add to UCF’s off-campus housing stock near where hundreds of student units are already located.
On the opposite side of Data Court to the north, Knights Crossing and Knights Circle have a combined 456 student housing units
Trinitas owns, invests, develops, builds and manages university-centric commercial real estate at major college campuses throughout the US, specializing in student housing, multi-family and mixed-use development, according to its website.
The company, headquartered in Lafayette, Indiana, currently owns and is developing approximately $500 million in assets, with an additional $1 billion in its development pipeline.
Leaders with the company could not be reached for comment.
Orange County Commissioners approved the Data Court project in February with no discussion, signing off on site plans that show two five-story residential towers and one four-story residential building, along with a five-story parking garage with 519 spaces.
bed student housing complex on a total of 6.25 acres near UCF.
The residential buildings —along the north shore of a lake, next to the UCP Bailes Community Academy charter school —will hold a total of 188 units, four beds per unit, with a minimum living area of 400 square-feet.
A dog park, clubhouse, indoor gym, basketball courts, walking trails and two swimming pool areas are also included in site plans drafted by engineering and planning firm Kimley-Horn. The project is to be constructed in one phase.
Dallas-based Humphreys and Partners Architects, which has an office in Maitland, has been tabbed to lead the design effort. That team’s portfolio includes several student housing projects, including Lark Central Florida, located near the Trinitas site at 3200 N Alafaya Trail.
Lark Central Florida features 416 units with 995 beds. Units vary in size from one bedroom to four bedrooms and range from 528 to 1,580 square feet.
Totaling roughly 470 acres, the greater Quadrangle Planned Development had been entitled as office space for UCF since the 1970’s. Last year, developers began chipping away at a gargantuan amount of office entitlements (about 2.4 million square feet) in order to build student housing and multifamily apartments.
South of the Trinitas property, at the corner of Turbine Drive and University Boulevard, American Campus Communities wants to develop up to 950 student housing beds, across 250 units, with up to 3,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space and a 567-space parking garage at 12124 High Tech Avenue.
The developer is seeking several waivers from Orange County, such as a request for buildings as tall as 10 stories, in lieu of three stories, and a minimum unit space of 250 square feet, instead of 500-square-feet.
The property is directly next to the 365-unit student housing community Plaza at University, also owned by American Campus Communities. Both assets would share a surface parking lot, according to county records.
Meanwhile, family-owned construction and real estate development firm Gilbane Inc. is pursuing multifamily on the Quadrangle tract.
The Rhode Island-based company, which has an office in Orlando, is seeking approval from Orange County for what is now a 303-unit, four-story multifamily apartment community. Earlier plans for the 8.6-acre site called for a 350-unit apartment.
The revised plan, submitted to the county in early June, shows 50 one-bedroom units, 165 two-bedroom units and 96 three-bedroom units. A parking garage with 342 spaces and a rooftop basketball court will accompany 247 spaces of surface parking. The apartment building design includes two interior courtyards, one of which features a pool.
Kimley-Horn & Associates Inc. is also involved in this project. Miami-based Zyscovich is the architect.
Have a tip about Central Florida development? Contact me at (407)420-5058 or dwyatt@GrowthSpotter.com, or tweet me at @DustinWyattGS. Follow GrowthSpotter on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
