St. Thomas seniors real estate major Max Schwartzman and operations major Sam Daoud, both licensed real estate agents, are planning to bring a new design for apartment buildings near campus offering amenities such as transportation to campus, a fitness center and balconies with views of Minneapolis.
“We’re trying to design the building in a way that hasn’t really been done before for St. Thomas students,” said Schwartzman. “We just want to create sort of a luxurious student housing environment for a very affordable price.”
The apartments will be located on the corner of Marshall Avenue and Moore Street. There will be 16 units, with either three or four bedrooms, housing a total of 61 people. Prices will begin for rooms under $900 a month.
While $900 could be considered steep in comparison to some off-campus housing, Schwartzman and Daoud said the Grand and Finn apartments– well-populated by St. Thomas students– are a comparable price once Grand and Finn’s cost for parking and utilities is factored in.
The idea for these apartment buildings formed when Schwartzman transferred to St. Thomas his sophomore year and struggled to find easily accessible student housing.
As Schwartzman struggled to find a place, his father Jon, a real estate agent, decided to purchase a house for his son to live in and then rented out the other rooms. Amazed by the high demand for renting houses around campus, the Schwartzmans continued to buy more houses to rent out. They now own seven in the area.
As the Schwartzmans began having to turn down renters due to a lack of space, they decided an apartment building could be a solution.
Schwartzman and Daoud have met with the zoning committee and received acceptance from the city for their plan. Currently their project is out for bid for construction and they have met with an interior designer multiple times.
At first, residents from the neighborhood were apprehensive, voting against the new apartments. Residents brought this information to the city council, which approved the apartments in a five-to one-vote.
“We’ve been trying to work with [the neighbors] and take some of their ideas and work them into our plans,” Daoud said. “The original plans had balconies around the whole building, but the neighbors weren’t too crazy about that, so we eliminated the balconies on one side.”
Schwartzman added that the building will be properly managed as they plan to screen their tenants and be on site often to help ensure positive relationships with neighbors.
To help decide amenities to add, Schwartzman and Daoud used social media to educate themselves on students’ opinions, posting an Instagram poll to ask whether students would prefer a fitness center or a common space to hang out with friends, play pool or watch TV. Students favored the fitness center, and they plan to move forward with this addition.
Parking will be offered as well as a shuttle that will take students to and from campus for all of their classes. A cleaning service will also be provided in the apartments, requiring paid appointments upon request.
The top floor of the apartments will have an 1,800 square foot penthouse suite, with four bedrooms, four bathrooms and a 300 square foot balcony.
“The balcony will be high enough to overlook the trees and surrounding houses so you’ll be able to see downtown Minneapolis from there,” Schwartzman said.
Daoud said that this sort of balcony will be the first of its kind in the area.
While the apartments won’t be complete for the 2018-2019 school year, St. Thomas sophomore Jamie Fonder is excited that these apartments could be complete by her senior year.
“I always wished that St. Thomas had more options with apartments,” said Fonder. “And those amenities all sound amazing.”
Schwartzman and Daoud expect to be applying for building permits by the end of April 2018 and construction to begin June 2018. They anticipate to have their leases begin June 1, 2019.
Taylor Shupe can be contacted at shup9397@stthomas.edu.