Proposed housing project on 19th St. west of University Ave., artist rendering
The developer planning a 584-bed student housing project on 19th Street across from Texas Tech hopes listening to the neighbors helps his project fare better than another developer’s two previous attempts.
That communication is appreciated and the president of the neighborhood group hopes it continues. But she pledges to monitor the project. The neighborhood’s biggest concern is parking and traffic on streets south of 19th Street.
Meanwhile, Café J and the Lutheran Student Center wait to find out if the project is approved, meaning they’ll have to move.
Chicago-area based Pinecrest – specializing in student housing walkable to campus – wants to build on land owned by Lubbock businessman George Hardberger and the Lutheran ministry. The land has a number of parcels, and some of them would need to be zoned high-density residential.
Tyler Perlmutter, Pinecrest’s CEO, will ask the Planning and Zoning Commission to change the parcels to high-density residential at its 6 p.m. Thursday meeting.
“We’re not asking for any variances to the code,” he said.
The previous project was rejected by the Lubbock City Council two years ago after strong protests from the Tech Terrace U.N.I.T. Neighborhood Association, which celebrates its centennial this year.
Perlmutter told Lubbock Lights.com this project addresses concerns residents had about the previous one, starting with communication.
“We’ve met with the neighborhood so whatever we build here includes their thoughts, comments, expertise … including them in the process of preliminary design,” he said.
Melissa Grimes, president of the neighborhood association, said, “We have a developer who’s interested in hearing from the neighborhood on the front end of the project.”
After defeating the previous project, Grimes said some in the association felt, “If we work really hard, no project will happen there.”
“We were sort of in a little dream world,” she said.
That dream was further shaken when the historic Godbold Building on the property was torn down a year ago.
“We know the land is going to have something built on it. If we can participate … then I feel we’re in a much different position than last time,” Grimes said, adding she’s also hearing from people who tell her she can’t believe developers.
“I’m going to walk carefully with as much information and skill around me as I possibly can. Then I’m going to research and inform my neighborhood residents about what’s going on,” she said.
The skills she refers to is the association’s ad-hoc committee formed to fight the previous project.
“We have architecture and design skills on our ad-hoc committee. I will bring everything back to the developers,” she said about input from that group and other neighbors.
Continuing collaboration could include some bartering, Grimes said.
“It might be a little bit of negotiation. Like, I don’t love what you’re getting ready to do here, but can you make sure that bus stop happens? Would our city work with us on providing a few more no parking signs or very limited parking signs in our neighborhood?” she said.
Hardberger’s owned the property since 2021. He thought the previous project was good.
“But I underestimated the opposition of the neighborhood. Now we have a developer who is going to great lengths to be collaborative,” he said.
“I think it’ll be good for Lubbock and Texas Tech,” Hardberger said.
The university has not taken a position on the project. The school’s legislative funding request for this year said enrollment is up 30 percent in the last decade. It might continue.
“By 2030-31, national projections indicate a decline in total U.S. high school graduates to just under 3.3 million students. Conversely, there is an expected increase in high school graduates in the Southern region, including Texas, making it a focal point for university recruitment efforts,” the request said.
584: Beds
288: Parking spots
53: Studio apartments
35: One-bedroom apartments
21: Two-bedroom apartments
19: 3-bedroom apartments
68: 4-bedroom apartments
25: 5-bedroom apartments
2,500: Square feet of retail space
Why Pinecrest came to Lubbock
“We target universities that have a large enrollment and growing enrollment,” Perlmutter said, adding colleges in Texas continue growing.
His company is working on a project in College Station for Texas A&M students.
Perlmutter heard about what happened with the previous project, originally planned for 700 beds. After talking to the landowners, he decided to go forward. If approved, it could open in time for the 2027 school year, he said.
It’ll also have retail space. Perlmutter expects the tenants will be businesses students who would use a coffee shop or small grocer.
“It’s worth taking a shot if we take the right approach,” he said about his decision to go forward.
The right approach for neighbors, Grimes said, beyond communication, is addressing:
- Parking and traffic
- Noise
- Aesthetics
Parking and traffic
“We already have students from Tech park on some of the streets that allow that during the daytime as they go to class,” Grimes said.
On roughly a half-dozen streets south of 19th Street, parking enforcement is a mix of two-hour limits, no parking during class hours, only with residential permits, or not allowed on one side of a narrow street.
Residents also complain about parked cars blocking access to their driveway, Grimes said.
The project adds to their concerns, Grimes said.
Perlmutter outlined what the project plans on doing:
- The existing large parking lot on the south side of the property will only be for residents. It will be enclosed, landscaped and not accessible from 20th Street. Access to that lot will only be from 19th Street. Residents will drive through the building from 19th Street and cross the alley into the lot. Perlmutter said it will be designed to discourage students from driving down the alley. All access will be controlled by fobs to open gates.
- The project will have 1.4 parking spaces per unit. The city calls for 0.5 spaces per unit.
- The pool size was reduced to add another 27 parking spaces. That change came after a January 16 meeting with residents.
Grimes countered that the planned parking spaces only cover about half the residents, so she’s concerned where other residents would park.
It won’t be like an office building, Perlmutter said, with drivers all coming in at 9 and leaving at 5, for example. He added not every resident will have a car and there are also parking lots on campus.
Grimes was also concerned about 200-plus cars going in and out of the complex, saying when residents leave the property, they’ll have to turn right onto 19th Street. If they want to go west, they’ll make right turns onto University Avenue, 20th Street and Boston Avenue where they can make a left onto 19th Street.
“All of us should want the project to do well. We should all want it to succeed. So if that stays booked up, it means there will be a lot of bodies in that building,” she said.
Perlmutter told Grimes his firm is devoted to marketing the project as walkable to campus, which would limit traffic, she said. There’s also talk about a bus stop in front of the project to pick up students.
Noise
A rooftop pool was originally on the edge of the property and neighbors were concerned students could peer into their backyards.
“We pushed the pool back, so it’s not at the edge anymore. It’s also going to be screened in completely with landscaping so it’s more of an enclosed pool deck,” Perlmutter said.
When the previous project was voted down in 2023, he said, neighbors were concerned students would throw beer cans off the pool deck.
“We’re doing everything we can to make sure nothing like that would happen,” he said, adding alcohol is not allowed on the pool deck or any public spaces.
“We have rules and regulations we require our residents to sign,” Perlmutter said.
Amenities close at 10 p.m., he said. For example, the fob used to get onto the pool deck won’t work after 10 p.m. They’ll also have security guards on the weekends and Perlmutter said at his last project, they installed 170 security cameras.
Aesthetics
Developers are incorporating Texas Tech colors and other design elements. Perlmutter mentioned the university’s Spanish Renaissance architecture – started with in the 1920s, abandoned, then reclaimed in the past few decades.
“We intend to have the right color palette and finishes making this building feel like it’s in the right spot,” he said.
That’s important to the neighbors, said Grimes.
“People in the neighborhood know what Texas Tech University looks like and they know what a lot of homes along 19th Street look like. That’s what they imagine they want for this building. Does it feel like it belongs in the neighborhood?” she said.
New type of student housing
Carlton House on the north side of campus, is the only other student housing project in Lubbock indicative of what’s being built now at other universities, Perlmutter said.
“Most of the stuff in North Overton is behind what you’re seeing at other schools. We think it’s a great recruiting tool for Tech,” he said.
They also consider student retention, he said.
“How will this building help residents stay in school? It’s better for us, better for the university. It’s good for the parents,” he said.
He was asked how they do that.
“We don’t do game rooms, or movie rooms or things like that,” he said, creating dedicated study space in rooms and in shared spaces so students can study together or work on projects.
Café J
Owner Chris Bourne watched his restaurant survive COVID, then 19th Street construction and now waits to see if he’ll have to relocate.
“I would like to keep it,” said Bourne, who also owns Capital Pizza.
But those recent challenges have caused a 55 percent drop of his food business, he said, adding the bar is keeping Café J in business.
“This is a date night place,” he said, adding, it got off people’s radar due to COVID and construction. Also, more “date night” restaurants have opened in Lubbock and more people moving to southwest Lubbock exacerbated the issue.
“I don’t know what will happen,” Bourne said, adding he continues to have a good relationship with landlord Hardberger.
“I have no hard feelings to George. He’s been good to me. We talk pretty regularly,” Bourne said.
Lutheran Student Center
When the previous project came up a few years ago, it caused angst and worry for the Lutheran Student Center on the west side of where Pinecrest’s development would be built.
“Well, this is our second go around,” said John Berry, president of the center’s advisory board.
It’s a waste of time to spend energy worrying about what could happen until something happens, he said.
“We’re going to walk in faith and believe it’s all going to work out, that God’s hands are in this,” he said.
The center’s owner – the Texas District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod – made it clear the center’s ministry will continue even if it must move, Berry said.
“There’s a shortage of student housing and this is a prime location for student housing,” he said.
The center ministers to Tech students, they don’t have to be Lutheran or even believers.
“Our mission is to find individuals, get them in a relationship with Christ and send them on in their community to do God’s work,” Berry said.
There’s a student-led service on Wednesdays and other events including small groups. One is working on rebuilding a Ford Mustang. There’s a cooking group and others study specific books in the Bible, Berry said.
The center serves about 25-30 students Berry calls “core members,” but about 100 “come through our door each semester.”
Note: Lubbock Stories Inc. is the nonprofit organization operating Lubbock Lights. Its operating board overseeing the business side of Lubbock Lights is made up of Executive Director Terry Greenberg, Publisher Scott Mann and Benji Snead. Greenberg is also editor of Lubbock Lights. He and James Clark, associate editor make all news decisions. Mann and Snead also run The Consulting Company, which is working with the developer on this project. In addition, Clark removed himself from covering this story because he’s on the board of the Lutheran Student Center.
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