Apartment complex, retail space will be next addition to University Village – Kearney Hub

KEARNEY A 230-unit apartment complex, with 5,000 square feet of retail space, will be the first privately funded addition to University of Nebraska at Kearneys University Village.

Millennium Development and UNK jointly announced the development at a news conference this morning. The project is a public-private partnership between the two entities, with UNK leasing the land to Millennium Development, which is funding the project.

Scott Rief, a Grand Island real estate developer and the project investor, said the complex hopefully will attract graduate students, young professionals and the wider Kearney community.

This is a place we want you to come and enjoy and really have that walkability aspect. With the amenities that the university is coming up with currently and in the future, its going to be a destination where youre going to want to come multiple times and hopefully not leave, Reif said during the conference.

In addition to the one- and two-bedroom apartment units and townhomes, the complex will feature a clubhouse, outdoor heated swimming pool, a gym, carriage house, attached garages and a courtyard.

The first phase of the project, expected to start in August, will include five buildings with a mix of apartments and townhomesand two 10-plex units. The $14 million initial phase also includes the retail space, with a restaurant planned as the anchor business.

Full construction on the 230-unit complex will take approximately five years, but the first units are scheduled for completion in June 2021. It will be constructed southwest of the central green space of University Village.

Rief said there is not yet a tenant established for the restaurant space, but hopes that it will be a place the tenants, and other Kearneyites, could enjoy multiple times a week.

For young professionals, grad students, you want them to be able to come down and get a salad. It will be a place to gather not just once a month, he said.

In addition to the walkable mix of housing and retail spaces, Rief also anticipates young people will enjoy the many planned social areas of the development. He said the space has several green spaces built throughout for gathering, as well as a pleasant view from the units windows.

The housing development is designed by Weaver Sherman Design out of Indianapolis, which was involved with a project at Purdue University similar to UNKs University Village. Lincoln-based engineering and design firm Olsson also is involved.

According to Reif, the interior of the units will be finished with hardwood floors and modern touches, like matte black fixtures, grey and white paint on the walls and stainless steel appliances. Each unit will also have its own washer and dryer.

The two bedroom units will also have two bathrooms, with the thought of accommodating young professionals or students with a roommate.

Reif anticipates the rent for the units to be market rate. According to a study he said Millennium Development had done by an Arizona firm, thats about $1.15 to $1.25 per square foot.

With the units to be approximately 650-1100 square feet, mathematically that makes the rental cost anywhere from $747 a month to $1,375.

However, Rief said the rent would be really depending upon the market.

In addition to being the first public-private building at University Village, the apartment project will also be the largest private investment on a construction project in the universitys history, according to a press release.

UNK Chancellor Doug Kristensen initially revealed plans for the University Village project at a press conference in April 2014. He said Monday the university had been patiently waiting for the right development idea to present itself.

We spent a great time studying what will be successful here and being patient, Kristensen said. We had a lot of people (say), Im going to put this in. I want to put a fast food place in. Weve said no to all of that because it needs to be organized and planned. I think this (Millennium Development project) fits into the plan perfectly. I think this is exactly how we envisioned it would happen.

Kristensen said he anticipates that the project will draw both existing Kearney community members and new ones, in addition to new development.

Nebraska University President Ted Carter called the project a game changer.

Quoting Field of Dreams, Nebraska University President Ted Carter said of the project that, If you build it, they will come.

Once we have rooftops here, other things will follow, Kristensen echoed. But you have to build it around people, and thats what were doing.

University Village currently features the 99-unit University Flats building, which is open to UNK students, staff and faculty, and the LaVonne Kopecky Plambeck Early Childhood Education Center. Plans for an indoor tennis complex and Regional Engagement and Alumni Center are also in the works.

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Apartment complex, retail space will be next addition to University Village - Kearney Hub