The largest landlord of off-campus housing at UConn is slated to begin a $14-million renovation project on two of its student-housing complexes in Willington and Storrs.
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The largest landlord of off-campus housing at UConn is slated to begin a $14-million renovation project on two of its student-housing complexes in Willington and Storrs.
Axela Group, a national real estate development, construction and property management firm headquartered in Waterbury, has already spent almost $1 million to upgrade Willington’s Cedar Ridge Townhomes and Storrs’ Hunting Lodge Apartments since buying both properties for $15 million in spring 2018.
Now, it plans to invest another $13.9 million to spruce up both sites, which were built in the early 1960s, officials say.
The renovations, to start in the coming weeks, will transform the 100-unit Cedar Ridge and 40-unit Hunting Lodge properties into luxury apartments for more than 300 UConn students, said Vicky Bui, Axela’s senior vice president of business development.
As part of the renovations, Axela is upgrading all flooring, kitchen cabinetry and countertops, bathroom fixtures and appliances at Cedar Ridge, which is home to some 250 students occupying 1,000-square-foot, two-bedroom units, Bui said. Similar upgrades will also be made at Hunting Lodge, a one-story building with about 95 students living in 600- and 700-square-foot, one- and two-bedroom units.
Standard two-bedroom apartments at Cedar Ridge are being leased at $1,500 a month, and premium two-bedroom units are going for $1,800. Three bedroom units cost $2,000 a month.
At Hunting Lodge, standard and premium single-room apartments are being leased between $1,300 and $1,650, and two-bedroom units between $1,500 and $1,800.
Axela is also continuing to work with the Connecticut Department of Public Health on a long-term plan to connect Cedar Ridge to city water.
Students living at Cedar Ridge, located on Burt Latham Road, were without clean water during parts of 2016 and 2017 as tenants reported discolored water gushing from their faucets.
Bui said Axela has been addressing the water issue since it took over the property more than a year ago and it is currently safe to drink.
“We understand the frustration from the tenants,” said Bui, whose firm owns and operates some 370 off-campus housing units near UConn’s flagship Storrs campus. “Hearing the feedback from the tenants helped us speed up the process with the Department of Public Health.”
Axela is also looking to overhaul two of its other off-campus properties: the Knollwood Apartments in Mansfield and the Maplewood Apartments in Storrs. A price tag and construction timeline for that project has not yet been announced, according to Bui, who expects the improvements to be completed sometime later this year.
Joe Cooper is HBJ’s web editor and real estate writer. He pens “The Real Deal” column about Greater Hartford’s commercial real estate industry.
