A new student housing development is leasing for the fall of 2025, at a time of record enrollment and a shortage of housing for USC.
Applications for leases opened on Sept. 9 for the complex located catty-corner to Colonial Life Arena on Devine, Gadsden and Green streets. The Development Foundation, a USC affiliated foundation that supports the university through real estate investment, funded the complex's development.
Holder Properties, a national real estate developer, is developing the complex in a public-private partnership with the Development Foundation. They are responsible for another of USC’s student housing developments, 650 Lincoln, in the same type of partnership.
“Our extensive student housing experience and understanding of the student lifestyle can be seen throughout Gateway 737, as we aimed to create a home and haven for future residents,” Andy Barfield, Managing Director and Head of Development at Holder Properties said in a press release.
Construction is underway, and the building now resembles digital renderings on the complex's site. It will add 940 beds for students at a total cost of around $170 million, according to a press release from the Development Foundation.
Holder Properties is pleased with how leasing has gone so far, Abby Hawkins, vice president of marketing and public relations at Holder Properties, said.
“It went live on our website this week, and it's been great,” she said. “We've got a good cadence of applications and leases getting signed.”
The complex is on track to be fully leased by early 2025, Hawkins said.
“I think if you want to live there, you shouldn't delay,” she said.
Several factors went into the decision, including market considerations, the needs of the university and student feedback from prior developments, said Hunter Lambert, the Development Foundation's assistant vice president and director of real estate.
The student housing shortage was a motivation behind the new complex, Lambert said. The Development Foundation discovered the need for more housing through market studies conducted by two private firms on their behalf.
“So as part of that research, they also look at the university, which is the closest thing to that site, and look at enrollment numbers and projections for how many students will the university have over the next few years, and then how many beds will be available for those students," Lambert said. "And both came back and said that there would be a housing shortage on and off campus."
Lambert said that student feedback was a factor in deciding what amenities would be included in the complex.
"So a combination of hearing how the university is reporting their enrollment numbers and the need for housing, hearing that feedback, and then also hearing from the students that they like to live on campus and other amenities that they are looking for in a development," he said. "That's kind of how we incorporate those things into the project so that we would build a product that students will like."
The complex's amenities are described as “high-end” on its website. Amenities include a fitness center, "resort-style" pool, tech lounge and game room. The complex will also feature a retail space of 12,500 square feet on its ground floor along with a rooftop lounge.
Holder Properties is finalizing a deal to have a local, full-service coffee shop in the retail space, Hawkins said.
USC’s other public-private apartments, 650 Lincoln and Park Place, feature similar amenities. Out of twenty students interviewed at these apartments by The Daily Gamecock last year, many reported infrequent use of their amenities.
According to Garnet Living, monthly rent for Gateway 737 will cost between $1075 and $1625, depending on the room configuration. Rental costs were decided in collaboration between Holder Properties and The Development Foundation, Lambert said.
The complex will not be managed by USC Housing, nor will it have any direct affiliation with the university, said university spokesperson Collyn Taylor.
“Gateway 737 doesn’t have an affiliation with USC Housing so there won’t be any living and learning communities or RAs on-property,” Taylor said in a statement. “Because of that, there is no university oversight in the operations of the building.”
Instead, complex management will be handled by Holder Properties. It will have several student community ambassadors residents who will assist Holder Properties' management team part-time.
Future residents will move into the complex starting in August 2025. Hawkins believes that residents will have plenty to be excited about.
"People are excited to live somewhere brand new," she said. "It's fresh, it's clean. And, you know, they're excited about what the building offers, plus where the building is. It's sort of the magical combination."