1) The East Lansing parking structure for Center City is going to cost ~$33,000 per space, according to the contractor.
The Carl Walker Parking Structure Cost Outlook for 2017 report shows construction cost per space of parking structures in various cities around the country. Detroit was $19,873, Chicago, $23,634, Cleveland, $19,085, Minneapolis, $20,818, to give an idea about midwest cities.
http://denver.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/14/2017/10/2017-Cost-Article.pdf
2) The development project in which Harbor Bay is involved that most resembles Center City in East Lansing is The Hub in Minneapolis, near University of Minnesota. That project is now listing floor plans with costs (“starting at” for each plan type).
The Hub Minneapolis is 26-stories with 430 apartment units, 707 beds, with commercial on the first floor, at a cost of $97.9 million.
http://tcbmag.com/news/articles/2016/apartment-tower-on-u-of-m-campus-now-under-constru
Factoring out some of the cost for the commercial space, this comes to around $130,000 per bed.
Commercial space in Center City in East Lansing is probably a higher % of the total square footage, so the cost for the 324 apartment units, 557 beds, would be about $90 million, about $162,000 per bed (assuming $100 million total cost, excluding $25 million for city parking structure, etc.).
Here are some of the floor plan costs for The Hub Minneapolis:
http://hubminneapolis.com/Floor-Plans
357 sq ft studio, $1310 per month, $15,720 per year, $44 per sq ft
485 sq ft 1 bed 1 bath, $1500 per month, $18,000 per year, $37.1 per sq ft
567 sq ft 1 bed 1 bath, $1630 per month, $19,560 per year, $34.5 per sq ft
701 sq ft 2 bed 1 bath, $1850 per month (2 person), $22,000 per year, $31.7 per sq ft
777 sq ft 2 bed 2 bath, $2130 per month (2 person), $25,560 per year, $32.9 per sq ft
There are also 3 and 4 bedroom units, but Center City in East Lansing has none of those in the approved site plan.
Not having seen per unit square footage for Center City, using the same ratios for studio/1 bed/2 bed as for Minneapolis, it is basic algebra to calculate likely approximate unit size for the proposed market rate apartments on Grand River and the proposed senior apartments over the parking garage, with 223,799 sq ft and 136,731 sq ft total residential space, respectively.
For Market Rate (students): 61 studio at ~430 sq ft, 60 one bedroom at ~774 sq ft, 150 2 two bedroom at ~959 sq ft
For Seniors: 50 one bedroom at ~1210 sq ft, 43 two bedroom at ~1573 sq ft.
3) Center City will be competing in the MSU footprint luxury apartment market with, among others, SkyVue, which opened in 2017. An examination of EDR SEC filings generally confirms the $90 million price tag (including its private parking structure) reported in the press (press releases on private investment in development projects are often erroneous). An interesting tidbit is that net operating income (NOI) across the many student rental communities managed by EDR is about 57% gross income.
SkyVue is receiving 80% of tax increment as reimbursement. The taxable value is about $10 million, and taxes not reimbursed are about $200,000. Center City, between taxes going to pay for the parking structure bond, lease to city, etc. will have about $1.8 million per year to subtract from gross income, in addition to management, maintenance, perks renters expect in luxury apartments, etc.
SkyView has 873 beds in mix of one, two, and four bedroom units. It does not have commercial space to lease. The construction cost per bedroom was about $110,000 per bed.
Eliot Singer
