TUCSON, AZ (April 3, 2024)—The West University Neighborhood, listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Tucson's first suburb north of the Southern Pacific Railroad, is about to get a new student housing community.
Six years in the making, Capstone Collegiate Communities has been working with all the stakeholders to assemble approximately 1.5 acres at the southwest corner of Speedway and Euclid. It closed on nine parcels from five sellers for over $10 million on March 28, 2024.
Five historic bungalows on that site will survive and be moved a few blocks away in the West University neighborhood. A sixth landmark home is deemed in too much disrepair and will be demolished.
Four of the five will go to a mostly empty lot on Second Avenue, with another one going across the street to the site where a home currently stands that will be taken down.
Joel Ireland, who owns the land at Second Avenue and has lived in West University for more than 40 years, will handle the refurbishing he is already doing to existing homes on the lot and plans to manage them as rentals when completed.
Tucson City Council unanimously passed an agreement in January that would allow for student housing on this corner of Speedway and Euclid, and the relocation of the homes, as residents praised the preservation of the homes built between 1918 and 1921.
Capstone plans to construct 144-unit / 448 beds in a four- and seven-story student housing project on the cleared corner. With approved relocation plans, Capstone hopes to relocate homes by mid-April to begin construction by August 2024 for an August 2027 delivery.
Scott Soelter and Jayme Fabe with NAI Horizon represented four sellers with seven parcels, and Roger Breckenridge with Long Realty represented a fifth seller with two parcels.
John Ash, with CBRE (Tucson), and Bert Kempfert, formerly with CBRE (Phoenix), were contracted to represent the Alabama-based Capstone Collegiate Communities in the assemblage and acquisition of the parcels.
For more information, Soelter and Fabe can be reached at 520.326.2200, Ash at 520.323.5177, and Breckenridge at 520.918.5813.
To learn more, see RED Comp #11210.