Do Harrisonburg and JMU Need More Student Housing?


Do Harrisonburg and JMU Need More Student Housing?
June 25, 2010 Filed In: jmu, market, student housing
(The Short Answer: No!) As reported by hburgnews a developer from Glen Allen is moving forward with a developing a community for 1,500 college students. Paul Riner astutely points out (WHSV) that it might be five to ten years before enough students exist at JMU for the community to be fully utilized. Is there really too much student housing already built? In Fall 2007, there were approximately 17,428 students at JMU. In a few months (Fall 2010), there are projected to be 18,484 students at JMU. This three year increase of 1,056 students has been paired with an the construction of 3,473 off campus beds. Where are these 3,473 new campus living options? 422 in a new JMU residence hall 332 at Charleston Townes 96 at Sunchase 816 at North 38 188 at Campus View Condos 274 at 865 East 1,220 at Copper Beech 125 at Urban Exchange Why was this enormous number of student housing properties built over the past three years? A few years ago, Harrisonburg created an incentive (with good intentions) for student housing developers to build now, now, now. Much of the land in the City that was annexed several decades ago was zoned R-3, which allowed (until recently) a property owner to build student housing (in the form of three-story apartment buildings) without asking for permission. Much of this R-3 land was adjacent to single family home neighborhoods, and thus Harrisonburg took this "use by right" out of the R-3 zoning classification. R-3 property owners were left with a three year window of time in which they could build this higher density housing (student housing) without asking for permission -- and thus the construction began! Finally, here are some fun quotes out of the Daily News Record article of July 25, 2007: "... James Madison University recently announced plans to increase enrollment by 4,100 students by 2013." Total growth will probably end up being around 1,900 students. "With the influx, we are going to need housing. We are going to need housing quickly." Well, we have that new housing now -- but it turns out we don't need much of it!
Based on information from the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Association of REALTORS® or its MLS, for the period Jan 1, 2000 through Sep 10, 2010 (unless otherwise noted).
Have any questions? Contact Scott Rogers at 540-578-0102 or scott@cbfunkhouser.com
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Close Comments 5 Comments so far . . . Sue Robertson: Great information, as always, Scott. What a difference in the projections over the last couple of years. June 27, 2010 5:55 pm Frank: Scott, I think it's odd that this is the second post you have made on this subject (the other being May 19th, 2010). Why is it that you are ok with Coldwell Banker managed properties to add more beds (Charleston Townes and Urban Exchange), but it's not ok for another builder with non-Coldwell Banker property management to come in to harrisonburg and build additional townhomes? One would think it would be better to see more options so that prices are more suitable for a consumer. Similar to having a Lowe's and a HomeDepot. More options provide a consumer with a better return on their dollar. All of the risk in this scenario is entirely on the builder. June 29, 2010 4:11 pm Jean Buono: Right on Target as far as the numbers. I would like to see a user friendly student community that would be designed with safety and security in mind. None that I am aware of completely addresses some of the pressing needs of both students, their parents and members of the community at large. July 1, 2010 8:47 pm Scott Rogers: Frank - most student housing is owned corporately, and higher vacancy affects a corporation, but not necessarily one family or individual. There are, however, some student housing properties that are owned by individuals or families -- such as in Hunters Ridge -- many of which are parents of JMU students. When a new project is built, increasing overall vacancy (which is already quite high), it stands to negatively impact more and more of these families as their tenants potentially go to the new projects. It is certainly a free market, and builders and developers are free to do as they wish -- my concern is whether developers are aware of the high vacancy rates as they are making decisions to develop. With current vacancy at about 18%, it is hard for me to believe a developer would predict success in adding hundreds more bedrooms. July 2, 2010 8:52 am Frank: You are correct and one would think the developers would do more research. Maybe they are banking on a quicker recovery and in essence that may hurt everyone who is involved with the student housing market. Thanks for the insight Scott. July 5, 2010 1:32 pm Add A Comment: Name (required) E-mail (required, not published) Website Prove you're not a comment-spammer . . .