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A 142-unit apartment complex that would cater to University of Louisiana students is drawing the ire of some in Lafayette's historic Freetown neighborhood.
Capstone Development Corp. has requested preliminary plat approval to build Capstone Quarters, a 142-unit apartment complex on Stewart Street, off Taft and Vermilion streets.
The property, zoned light industrial, is about 11 blocks from the UL campus.
The Planning Commission delayed a decision on the request last week and will take up the matter again at 5 p.m. Monday.
A decision was delayed so the commission can consult a Freetown neighborhood plan developed by the Lafayette In a Century committee, said Rebekka Raines of the Planning, Zoning and Codes department.
Istvan Berkeley, a UL professor who lives near the proposed apartments on East Vermilion Street, said the quiet, historic neighborhood where children ride their bikes in the street will be flooded with college students racing through the neighborhood, drinking and playing loud music if the apartments are built.
Berkeley's home, built in 1938, is one of the newest in the historic neighborhood, where "free men of color" settled, he said.
Lafayette attorney Glenn Armentor said he, too, is concerned that bringing 350 to 500 college students to the outskirts of Freetown will change the character and culture of the neighborhood, which has sustained for more than 100 years.
An effort is under way to have Freetown designated as a national historic neighborhood, Armentor said.
"The Freetown community was the precursor to there being no Klan and no Knights of the White Camellia in Lafayette," said Armentor, who collected an oral history of the neighborhood. "Blacks got along with whites after the free men of color in Freetown stood up to the Klan, and there were battles, and people died."
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Claire Taylor
ctaylor@theadvertiser.com
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Other properties built and operated by Capstone are not well maintained, Berkeley said.
If Capstone builds the apartments well and maintains and manages them, "it could be a boon to the community," Armentor said. But, if the company sells the apartments right away and students are allowed to do what they want, there could be drugs and drunks and other problems, he said.
A Capstone official said he believes the apartment complex will enhance the neighborhood.
"When I look at the neighborhood and I consider what we're proposing to put there, I think it can do nothing but have a tremendous positive impact on the neighborhood," said Kent Campbell, executive vice president of Capstone Development Corporation.
The empty property on Stewart Street is surrounded by a small mobile home park on one side and commercial operations on the other side and across Stewart Street. Homes are positioned to the back of the property, and small, mostly wood-frame houses with porches dot the neighborhood.
The apartment complex will be "upscale," catering to UL students, Campbell said. The complex will be fenced and gated, and adequate parking will be provided, he said, although preliminary plans include 19 parking spaces on Stewart Street in addition to 364 on-site parking spaces.
Rental rates have not been established, but when Capstone manages the property, it leases by the bedroom and helps residents find roommates, Campbell said.
"If one roommate flunks out or leaves the university, no one wants to get stuck paying their share of the rent," he said.
Capstone built University Commons in Baton Rouge years ago, Campbell said.
"This is really a much higher quality project than that," modeled after a condominium project under construction in Urbana, Ill., he said.
Capstone intends to operate the complex as apartments, but it could turn the development into condominiums in the future, Campbell said.
The planning, zoning and codes staff is recommending approval of the plan with requirements, including construction of sidewalks along Stewart Street and restriping Garfield Street to create left-turn access to a proposed driveway.
Three driveways are shown on plans presented to the Planning Commission - along Stewart Street at Brainard Avenue, along Stewart Street at Lacour Avenue and on Garfield Street.
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