Dive Brief:

• Property Markets Group has secured a construction permit for a seven-story, 99-unit luxury apartment building in Chicago’s University Village neighborhood, according to Curbed Chicago. 

• The project, U, will target the area’s student-heavy population with amenities such as co-working space, a yoga room, a communal kitchen with industrial-grade equipment, and a roof deck.

• Designed by Cordogan, Clark & Associates, an architectural firm based in Aurora, IL, the project will include a rooftop photovoltaic array.

Dive Insight:

U is among the latest projects in Chicago’s proximal University Village and Medical District neighborhoods to secure a construction permit. It will be joined by the $109 million, Gensler-designed Cook County Central Campus Health Center, which in January got the green light to be developed by Clayco, Curbed reported. Separate plans were put forth in August to develop two towers offering a combined 500 units in the neighborhood, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.

Property Markets Group's high-end student-oriented project in Chicago joins a line of similar schemes near colleges and universities across the country as demand for student housing gathers strength.

Georgia-based developer Landmark Properties Inc. recently revealed plans for a 750-bedroom apartment building in Oviedo, FL, near the University of Central Florida, that will cater to the area’s student population. In December, Austin-based Aspen Heights Partners and Beijing-based Grand China Fund announced a 166-unit, 464-bed housing development targeting students near the main campus of the University of Texas at Austin.

Development is occurring on campus, too. The University of Miami, in Florida, is proposing a $100 million student housing project designed by Miami-based Arquitectonica that will contain 1,100 beds and a range of amenities, including a startup incubator.

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