Glenwood Student Communities, which owns five properties near Brigham Young University in Provo housing more than 3,500 students, will seek rezoning approval to build 124 units on the site at 1000 E. Apache Blvd., which currently holds a small office building. According to Glenwood's acquisitions director Jeremy Carver, the company wants to build a five-story structure with 4,300 sf of ground-floor retail space and 274 parking spaces.

The Retreat at 1000 Apache is being designed by Ken Harris Architects in Provo. No budget has been established and rents have not been set. This is the company's first development outside Utah.

Glenwood's development land is a short distance from a similar 1.5-acre site purchased in May by Campus Acquisitions Inc., which is planning a high-end student housing complex with 132 rental units. The Chicago-based developer paid $5 million for its parcel at 922-936 E. Apache, where it will build a 10-story, $30-million project to be called Apache. At 1900 E. Apache, Campus Suites LLC of Ocoee, FL is building the five-story, 299-unit Campus Suites on the Rail.

Carver tells GlobeSt.com the Glenwood site seeks to take advantage of a $4.1-billion light-rail line set to open in December. The 20-mile starter route will run from central Phoenix through Tempe and on to Mesa. There will be a stop about a quarter-mile east of the Glenwood project at Apache and Dorsey Lane. The university campus is less than 600 feet west of Glenwood's site.

The seller was LandsourceAZ of Phoenix, which involves companies formed by a group of a half dozen local investors. The deal was brokered for both sides by Greg Thielen in the Phoenix headquarters of Hendricks & Partners, who says Landsource had intended to demolish the office building and replace it with a 17-story condominium, retail and office project. The project was deemed unfeasible in light of today's tight credit market. Student housing, on the other hand, is a very desirable product at the moment, at least in certain markets. J.J. Smith, project director for Campus Acquisitions, calls the market near ASU Tempe the best in the country for student housing, thanks to a swelling student population and under construction of dormitories by the university.