As thousands of housing units are built near Florida State University, local business leaders and government officials are warning the new developments will likely pull tenants away from other parts of Leon County. Those remarks came during an Economic Club of Florida meeting on Thursday.
Over the next few years, developers are expected to build about 5,000 housing units in the areas adjacent to FSU. Most of them are in high-end complexes south and east of campus, offering easy access to planned bars and retail stores.
Ed Murray, the president of commercial real estate broker NAI TALCOR, says there’s an undeniable draw.
“There’s gonna be an occupancy train wreck somewhere in town. But I don’t think it’s gonna be there. I think it’s gonna be in other places in town. Cause that’s gonna be where everybody wants to live," he says.
Murray says although so many new residences will be available, the number of students is not expected to rise nearly as much. So he expects some neighborhoods currently dominated by students might return to housing more families.