Multifamily Multitude

How the multifamily housing development boom is transforming the landscape of Athens-Clarke County 

By Julian Alexander

When Sara Beresford first came to Athens in 1997, downtown Athens looked vastly different. No high rises dotted the skyline of East Broad Street. The Mark, Eclipse, Lark and even 755 Broad were not even glimmers in the eye of a developper. At that time, what would eventually become The Mark and mire the East side of Broad Street in construction was a quiet part of town where Jittery Joe's roasted coffee in a gray shack, the Dixie Cannery facility stood, and the Armstrong and Dobbs lumber yard operated. 

In the last 20 years, what once was a relatively quiet area has transformed rapidly. In 2008, the lumber yard folded due to financial hardship wrought by the financial crisis. What has risen in its place, The Mark, has transformed the area to where it is practically unrecognizable. Student-targeted multifamily housing developments have sprouted up all over town, yet they are crowding the space of the smallest county in Georgia.

Even recent alumni have trouble finding their way around due to the rapid pace of change.

“We see that often when [friends] come in. They're like, ‘holy crap, I couldn't find [a landmark] because [the town] looks different than I remember it’,” said Beresford.  

Beresford now serves as a planning commissioner for the county, and has done so since 2017. She plays an integral role in shaping the future of policy in Athens. She sees part of the rapid transformation as being due, in part, to multifamily housing development that is aimed at students.

“The base of downtown Athens [is] really being changed by this sort of what they call purpose-built student accommodation,” Beresford said.  

In Beresford’s opinion, the boom in student housing is driven by a demand for “luxury” accommodations. The boom is being financed by a student population that has more disposable income than ever before. 

“The students have really become this dominant consumer class...When I was a student in the 90s, students just didn't seem to have that kind of money to spend. They weren't making such a big economic impact on the town in a way that seems to be happening here,” she said. 

Developers are aware of the growing student financial base. From Bruce Lonnee’s perspective, investors are willing to sink their money into financing student-aimed multifamily housing because they feel confident they will see a return on investment. 

“[Developers] know that the demand is there to have the newest and nicest units, they will always fill up and they will always hit their mark financially. And investors will do well because those projects will fill up with the next batch, or two, three years worth of batches of new students coming to town,” Lonnee said. 

Lonnee is the assistant planning director of Athens-Clarke County. He recognizes Athens is a desirable location. 

“It's certainly true of Athens and some of the university towns that are promoted as being very desirable to live in, [so] we check a lot of boxes and lenders are quick and comfortable to make loans to developers to come and build new, particularly student multifamily,” Lonnee said.

And in Athens, the student population simply seems to continue to grow, year-over-year.

According to the University of Georgia’s factbook, total enrollment has grown from 31,288 in 2000 to 39,147 in 2020, a 25 % increase of the total student population. However, in that same time the University’s housing capacity has grown only marginally.

At present, the University has a capacity for 10,050 students, which is approximately 25% of the entire population. Twenty years ago the University was able to house 24% of the student population. Despite adding nearly 2,500 beds, the institution has not been able to increase its capacity year-over-year to serve a broader swath of students. 

The University is adding more capacity in its new dorm on Baxter Street, which will add 525 beds to the total number supplied, but in the meantime enrollment is expected to continue rising.

The lack of University housing has created a problem, as nearly 30,000 students still need housing for nine months out of the year.

Enter multifamily housing development. 

Since 2000, 737 permits have been approved for apartments and condos in the county according to data published by the Athens-Clarke County Building Permits & Inspections department. These developments have added 7,039 units to the housing capacity of the County. 

Yet despite the growing population, not all of these units are filled. 

“We have dozens of multifamily projects around town that are in that 10 to even 30 year window of age that some are doing quite well and others are sort of making it work and then others are at really low occupancies. And they're having to make decisions about deferred maintenance,” said Lonnee.

Despite the vacancy rate in the county rising in older developments, new units continue to come online in a county where space is at a premium.

According to the Athens-Clarke County website, the county is the smallest county in the state of Georgia by land area. The unified government only encompasses  just over 116 square miles according to data collected in the 2010 census. 

Of the land available in Athens, approximately 30% is owned or occupied by the University of Georgia, according to data compiled by Alexander Burke, a geospatial researcher and graduate of the University. 

The County is running out of land for new developments, yet the demand continues to grow for new construction.