Eighteen months ago, John Meeks got a call from a developer out of St. Paul, Minnesota.

The developer wanted to know: Would Meeks be interested in turning his 6.6-acre property on Peques Street into private student housing?

The unsolicited inquiry was followed by 12 more from around the U.S. Meeks received 10 letters of intent or interest over the course of a few months, which made him wonder what it was about his property that made private student housing developers so eager to buy.

Surrounded by multifamily apartment complexes, Texas State University-owned property, four single-family homes and an area zoned for heavy commercial use, the Peques Street property is—by Meeks’ estimate—a five-minute walk to Texas State’s quad, a five-minute walk to the university’s Hilltop neighborhood and a 10-minute walk to the San Marcos Square.

It is also “topographically-challenged,” making it hard for single-family homes to be built on the rectangular piece of land that abuts the Timbers student housing complex, according to Meeks, whose family has owned the land for decades.



To understand what was fueling developer desire to come to San Marcos, Meeks said he then read Texas State’s 330-page 2017-27 university master plan, which was released last fall.

On Thursday, Meeks summarized his findings to a group of around 30 San Marcos residents, several of whom serve on the City Council and the planning and zoning commission that will ultimately determine whether the 6.9 acres on Peques Street will be added to the city’s growing list of private student housing complexes.

“I want transparency,” Meeks told the audience at the Price Center Thursday after being peppered with questions about flood plain management, sediment runoff, parking requirements and oversight. “I want these kinds of comments so that we can make the right decision.”

Meeks is applying for a zoning change to a unique San Marcos zoning district listed under the city’s SmartCode called T-5 Urban Center, which allows property owners to build denser mixed-use buildings that accommodate retail, offices and apartments. The Local Downtown apartment complex and Ella Lofts are examples of properties zoned T-5.

He is proposing to add a five-story, 500-bed apartment complex to the property. His property is currently zoned for single-family homes.

The process to change the zoning and the city’s Preferred Scenario Map—which dictates how the city grows and where development can generally occur—began in February, when the P&Z commission got its first notice that a zoning change was being proposed.

On Tuesday, the request will be back in front of P&Z commissioners. According to documents attached to Tuesday’s agenda, the planning staff has recommended the request be denied.

“The rezoning does not serve a substantial public purpose as it does not further the goals and vision of the Comprehensive Plan,” staff wrote in its review of the application. Staff also said it did not “address a substantial unmet public need.”

Most notably, planning staff said the property is considered “highly constrained” because of its location in the Sessom Creek watershed, according to the Land Use Suitability Map.

According to the review, the police department also expressed concerns regarding potential noise generated from the development and the effect it would have on the Forest Hills neighborhood.

Walkability
Meeks argues a student housing complex on Peques Street will result in more students walking to campus and less cars on the road, which will not increase the traffic burden already felt on Sessom Street.

He said the proposed development is an effort to “protect our neighborhoods” from being pervaded by students. Instead, they would be confined the Peques Street property, where they could walk everywhere and reduce the number of cars on the roads.

“I have worked very hard to reduce the impact of the neighborhood that surrounds this [property], he said.

University growth
The university estimates it will add nearly 8,000 students by 2027, according to its master plan. Those projections are based on a 1.7 percent overall annual student population growth, but historically, the university has grown by about 4 percent year-over-year since 2000. If the university were to base its enrollment projections on the historical growth percentage, Texas State would have 60,805 students enrolled by 2027.

The university also wants to add up to 1.25 million square feet of additional education space by 2027, along with an additional 303,000 square feet of new research space.

Other goals include adding up 2,000 parking spaces by adding three parking structures and adding 1,025 beds for first-year, full-time freshmen–who are required to live on campus—and 33 percent of returning students at the Hilltop site.

The growth will be designated to three geographical areas, or neighborhoods—The Hilltop, the Performing Arts, and the Science and Engineering neighborhoods.

The Hilltop site is the “single-most important land asset” and the “highest redevelopment priority” for the university, according to the master plan.

This will most strongly affect traffic on Sessom Drive, according to Meeks, who said congestion on that street could double by 2027 if Texas State does everything it says it will in the master plan.

“Sessom Drive is probably as good as it’s going to get today,” he said.

Core Spaces
Meeks said to lighten the load on Sessom Drive, his student housing complex would not include a retail component.

Meeks said he went through a thorough vetting process to find a private student housing developer that met all of his requirements—including the need for the developer to be owner-operated and -managed and have a history of establishing good relationships with cities. He called references, asked for letters of recommendations and financials, invited prospects to walk the property and graded each of the proposals, finally settling on Chicago-based Core Spaces.

The Core Spaces signature brand is The Hub, which can be found in cities like Gainesville, Florida; Madison, Wisconsin; Tucson, Arizona; and Eugene, Oregon.

Described as “vibrant, inviting and ultramodern” by the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, in a letter of recommendation Meeks submitted in the application, The Hub complexes are typically located between a university campus and a downtown area and offer amenities, such as private study rooms, a gaming area, an indoor golf simulator, a swimming pool, cabanas, lounge seating and a fitness center.

“These folks are the Ritz Carlton of the student housing industry,” Meeks said.

The Hub in Eugene, a city whose median household income is similar to San Marcos, starts its pricing at $699 per person for a five-bedroom, four-bathroom unit. Prices go up to $1,454 for a one-bedroom penthouse.

Meeks said Core Spaces did not offer him the most amount of money, and he trusted this company more than all the others he vetted.

“This project [sic] not only stands apart as a striking example of adaptive reuse and innovation, it has proven itself in short order to be a key turning point in our downtown revitalization efforts helping engender a level of optimism and activity on Main Street unlike anything we’ve seen in a generation,” Stephen Benjamin, the mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, said in the letter of recommendation.

What’s next
Meeks said if San Marcos City Council does not approve his rezoning request, he will “hold the property” and keep it in the family.

On Tuesday, he will present his proposal to the full P&Z commission, who will hold a public hearing and make a recommendation to the council.

The request goes to the council for public hearings and discussion April 17 and May 1, and the council will ultimately approve or deny the zoning change May 15.

If the zoning change is approved, Core Spaces can move forward with platting the land, creating a watershed protection plan, creating a site development plan and applying for a conditional use permit to give the development a student housing designation.

The P&Z commission public hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday in San Marcos City Hall.