Board gives conceptual go‑ahead for 16‑story student housing at 2160 North High Street, asks for material and streetscape detail

At a conceptual review the University Impact District Review Board generally supported the massing and program for a proposed mixed‑use student housing tower at 2160 North High Street, but asked the applicant team to refine materials, fenestration and street‑level design before formal review.

Planning staff summarized the project as a new demolition and replacement with a 16‑story, approximately 378,000‑square‑foot building that would include about 10,000 square feet of commercial space and 72 vehicular parking spaces (split between ground and one underground level). The site is in the urban core district and eligible for up to 16 stories with an affordability bonus; staff flagged adjacency requirements for an east‑side residential district (35‑foot height limit) and said a certificate of appropriateness would be required to confirm consistency with the University District Plan.

The applicant team said they relocated and recessed the main retail entry to the corner of Lane and High (creating planters, benches and bike parking), removed residential units from the ground floor along High Street, added a two‑story amenity space above the retail entry and introduced two‑story brick elements to better respond to the scale of neighboring buildings. The design calls for red and black brick at lower levels and a panelized system above; the applicants said floors five through 16 would step beyond the right‑of‑way at the corner and that they will pursue a right‑of‑way encroachment approval if the board is comfortable moving forward.

Board members praised the revised corner treatment and the double‑height amenity to activate the street, but repeatedly requested higher‑quality materials at the most prominent elevations and more definition of storefront transparency and the north elevation that faces lower‑rise housing. "For building on a prominent corner, it needs...really paying attention to the size of windows, the scale of it in the city, the character, the material that's going to contribute to the urban environment," a board member said. Several members asked for more detailed sections showing the cavity brick, the transition to panelized systems above, and an improved treatment of the courtyard to ensure daylight for interior units.

The applicant said they will commit to National Green Building Standards bronze certification and to providing public art (likely on the East Lane frontage). The board asked the applicants to return with a detailed site plan, material samples for the lower stories, lighting and landscape plans, and clarification of the affordable‑housing bonus details with city staff. The board did not take a vote at this conceptual stage but indicated support for continued development of the design.