Developer outlines 7‑story student housing plan for South University, seeks rezoning and alley solution

Core Spaces, a national developer of university‑anchored housing, told the Fayetteville City Planning Commission in a special meeting that it is the contract purchaser of a split‑zoned site at South University and is proposing a seven‑story, 281‑unit multifamily building there.

Core Spaces representative Andrew Savoy said the project would total 736 bedrooms with 482 parking spaces under current code, and that the team expects to request rezoning of all parcels in the site to Main Street Center (MSC) from their current Downtown General (DG) and RMF‑40 designations. Savoy said the developer is also seeking to resolve an alley that runs through the site—either by vacating it or by pursuing a licensed encroachment that would allow construction to span the alley.

Commissioners and staff raised several technical and policy questions. The site has about a 60‑foot grade change and a constrained alley that Savoy said includes a roughly 14‑foot vertical change in a 20‑foot span and several encroachments. The property also contains high‑voltage transmission lines that the team said require a 25‑foot construction setback, and several large, high‑priority trees adjacent to the Putman House that the developer said it is trying to preserve. "This is probably one of the more complicated sites I've ever worked on," Savoy told commissioners.

Why it matters: The rezoning and alley request would change allowable height and form and could remove an existing block connection. Commissioners said the site sits in an area where long‑term residents live near student housing, and several asked the…