Coastal students to have another new housing option

Another new student housing development is underway in Conway, the latest project near Coastal Carolina University driven by the growing student population.

Monarch 544, a 128-unit, 440-bed apartment complex off S.C. 544, is being built and is scheduled to be complete for the start of the 2012 school year in the fall, according to Shannon King, the CEO of Monarch Ventures, one of the project’s owners.

Local business owners Michael Allard, the chief construction officer of Progress Builders, and Brad Queener, the president of Bradley Development Co., are also owners and helping develop the project.

This is the second new, off-campus student apartment complex slated to open for the beginning of the 2012 school year. The Cove, a 396-bedroom project, is being built by Gilbane Development Co. at S.C. 544 and Jackson Bluff Road.

Developers are responding to the growing demand for housing as Coastal’s enrollment has grown.

“Coastal Carolina has experienced significant growth in the past several years and there was a piece of land directly across from the university and our demographic study showed that there was a significant need,” King said.

Between 2000 and 2010, Coastal Carolina University’s enrollment grew 87 percent, which increased the demand for campus housing, said Staci Bowie, Coastal’s vice president for finance and administration.

Coastal requires all freshmen and sophomore students to live on campus, which with the increased enrollment, has left little to no space for upperclassmen in campus housing, she said.

Some upperclassmen want to move closer to the beach, but others don’t want to move too far from campus, Bowie.

“I think these off-campus properties have seen that as an opportunity,” Bowie said.

Monarch 544 will have two- and four-bedroom apartments, with each room rented individually. Each building will have four levels and elevators and all of the apartments will come fully furnished, King said. Rent, including utilities, will range from $600 to $650 depending on the location of the apartment, she said.

There will be a number of amenities, including an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse, a fitness center and a pool. There will also be staff working 24 hours a day that will help organize student activities.

There will be a range of activities dictated by student desires that may include a flag football intramural team and cooking classes, King said.

“We believe that students, that people are more successful when they are involved in things,” she said.