$34 million student housing project on schedule, developer says

A student housing development on Lexington Avenue is on schedule, the project's Texas-based developer said Friday.

Domus Development president Eric Jakimier said he was on the site Thursday and pleased by the progress after groundwork began in June.

"Everything so far has been earthwork and underground and things like that, so there's lots of activity, but it's hard to see what's really going on. But very soon in this next week you should be able to see a lot more progress," he said.

"We're pretty much finished with the earthwork, and you should start seeing framing on the clubhouse start to happen this next week because we open the clubhouse in November so that we can start leasing for the fall (2018). You should start seeing some real visual progress."

The $34 million development, being built in partnership with Fronabarger Concreters and Axia Contracting will entail 281 apartments with 591 beds over a 15-acre plot on the corner of Lexington Avenue and Sprigg Street.

An artist's rendering of the future student-housing development at at Lexington Avenue and Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau, slated to open in fall 2018.Submitted

"It's focused at students. Anyone can live there, but very few people who aren't students are going to want to live in a fully furnished apartment," Jakimier said. "I'm 58, and I've got stuff."

But he said sometimes seniors looking to downsize rent at developments like these.

"Often they're retired professors. They enjoy being around students and have been around students all their life, so they enjoy that," he said.

Although the project is designed to appeal to students, Jakimier said the development is unaffiliated with Southeast Missouri State University.

"The university's business has become just as competitive as everyone else's business, and we have found that having really high-quality housing available for students does help enrollment for the university, so I do think they will see some benefit to us being there," he said. "But as far as a formal relationship or an economic relationship, we don't have any whatsoever."

An artist's rendering of the future student-housing development at at Lexington Avenue and Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

Jakimier said the Cape Girardeau development is his seventh, but his first in Missouri. He praised the city staff for helping facilitate the project.

"Some cities are more sophisticated on the plan-review side than others, and some cities make things just miserable for you. ... Cape is not like that," he said. "Nobody's cutting corners or anything; they're just pleasant to work with."

He said it's especially satisfying to see the project's progress because he's excited to become a part of the Cape Girardeau community.

"I know I'm going to be there once or twice a month minimum for the next two years. I want it to be some place I really want to go," he said, recalling his first visit to the area in 2015. "The first time I went to Cape, I thought, 'Man, I gotta do a deal here. This is just a lovely town.'"

tgraef@semissourian.com

An artist's rendering of the future student-housing development at at Lexington Avenue and Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

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