A local developer has completed construction of two three-story apartment buildings west of Indiana University Memorial Stadium.
The buildings on the west side of Lincoln Street between 19th and 20th Streets offer a total of six three-story residential units with 24 bedrooms.
Documents filed with the city of Bloomington show that each of the six units has a kitchen and living room on the ground floor, and two bedrooms and two bathrooms each on the second and third floors.
Each building will provide approximately 5,600 square feet of space. Building permits filed with the county show an estimated project cost of $1.1 million per building.
Rental rates for the units were not immediately available, but the developer said leases for all units were signed before the spring, reflecting strong demand from IU students for housing near the football stadium and basketball venue, Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.
Water, internet and garbage collection are included in the price, but the apartments are unfurnished, although the website provides a link to the furniture rental site Cort.com.
Late last week, workers laid the turf in preparation for move-in, which was scheduled for Friday, said developer Tommy Guthrie, managing partner of University Properties, which does business as Varsity Properties.
The apartment buildings replaced two detached two-story houses.
A local planner said the two properties are in a mixed-use student housing area where three-family homes are legally permitted, so the developer would not need to seek approval from a public body such as the Bloomington Plan Commission.
Gabriel Holbrow, a zoning officer in the city’s Planning and Transportation Department, said via email that of the two previous homes, only the south one at 219 E. 19th St. had been reviewed by the Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission because it was on the City of Bloomington’s 2018 Survey of Historic Sites and Structures.
Holbrow said members of the Historic Preservation Commission voted to approve demolition in June 2023.
Varsity Villas bought the two properties along with others in 2007 for $4.7 million. Varsity Properties is now marketing the units, called Lincoln Townhomes, on its website livebythestadium.com.
The company owns several other properties in the area, including a six-story complex directly west of the stadium at the corner of East 19th and North Dunn Streets.
New: 5-story apartment building with 441 residential units planned near Memorial Stadium
Many apartments have been built in the area in recent years, and more are planned. A Chicago developer recently announced plans to demolish some single- and multi-family homes a block south of the Lincoln Townhomes to make room for two five-story buildings with 441 apartments.
You can reach Boris Ladwig at [email protected].
