EVERETT — Students could be living in dorms across the street from Everett Community College by next fall.
Koz Development of Snohomish plans to start construction next week on an $11 million, six-story building that could house 120 students.
“There’s such great demand for it,” said Cathy Reines, CEO and president of Koz Development. “If you look around most any university in the Puget Sound area and, frankly, across the country, there’s a great demand for affordable, market-rate housing for students.”
The building along 10th Street behind Starbucks is planned to have 120 single-occupancy furnished rooms that are all en suite and include kitchenettes. The project will also include common areas for students to gather, a large laundry room area, a rooftop gathering spot — with railings set back from the edge — and an outside courtyard.
Koz Development will retain ownership of the building, but will lease it long-term to EvCC, which will in turn lease it to students who want to live within feet of the campus.
The project is expected to be complete before fall classes 2016, Reines said.
EvCC President David Beyer said the college has long sought to establish housing for students on or near campus. But it’s been difficult for the college to achieve, because college staff have been focused on growing educational programs. To buy land off campus and develop housing takes time and resources the college didn’t have, Beyer said.
“The college is excited about the opportunity,” he said. “We appreciate the partnerships we have and we think it’s going to enrich the campus and student life, and the whole region of north Everett.”
Koz Development is the same firm that is working with Trinity Lutheran College to build a 58-room student housing building on parking lot located in the 2600 block of Rockefeller Avenue in Everett. That project is in the final stages of permitting.
The firm recently acquired land in South Lake Union in Seattle and is planning a project with a student housing nonprofit in Portland, Oregon.
Koz Development expects to break ground 1:30 p.m. Oct. 22 on the EvCC housing.
Everett-based Kirtley-Cole Associates will do the construction. The company is already demolishing three homes where the new student housing will be located.
For Koz Development, the project fits in their strategy for building housing for students and professionals close to their work or school.
“I’ve known individuals there at the college for years,” Reines said. “I think we began talking about it one day, we walked around the neighborhood and identified potential sites for it and the rest is history.”
As many as 19,000 students attend EvCC each year. More students head to the campus to take classes from other colleges that are part of the University Center. And Washington State University is building a $54.6 million building, the launch of WSU North Puget Sound at Everett.
Beyer said that the college will lease the student housing only to EvCC students at this point. Both he and Reines said that they would like to build more student housing at EvCC in the near future.
“We’re looking at another opportunity to grow that fairly quickly within a year or two after these are built and occupied,” Beyer said.
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