Editor’s note: This story has been revised from an earlier version to clarify that the project would not be limited to six-bedroom units but would include units of varying size.
Developer R.W. Day is proposing an 18-story high-rise with 455 units of student housing that would be located on a 5.4-acre tract behind his Southgate Towers mixed-use development on Burbank Drive. The project would include one-, two, three-, four- and, even, six-bedroom units.
If approved next month by the city-parish Planning Commission, the Summit at Southgate, as the project would be called, would be among the tallest buildings in the parish and also among the densest.
Day, who submitted the plans to the Planning Commission earlier this month for consideration at its April meeting, did not return a call seeking comment, and his project engineer declined to comment.
Given its size and density, the Summit at Southgate would be one for the books—even in a market that has seen record-high prices for student housing complexes over the past year, as well as the addition of hundreds of new, high-end units.
The idea for the project, though, isn’t a new one. When Day first submitted plans for his Southgate development in 2000, they included a 15-story high rise. In 2013, he submitted a revised concept plan that increased the height of the high-rise to 18 stories. Both times the Planning Commission gave him the OK.
It is unclear what the agency might do this time. The Planning Commission staff is currently reviewing the developer’s plans and hasn’t yet issued a recommendation, according to Assistant Planning Director Ryan Holcomb.
The Planning Commission will take up the matter at its April 18 meeting.
—Stephanie Riegel
