Student apartments near IUPUI to get 72-unit addition from new developer

More than 70 units and nearly 100 parking spaces are planned for a second phase of a student apartments complex overlooking the White River west of the IUPUI campus.

Indianapolis-based Spectra Student Living is seeking approval to move forward with the addition to the Annex on 10th apartment building at 1717 W. 10th Street, two years after the original portion was completed by another developer. 

Spectra founder and managing partner Justin Farris said his firm plans to build an addition on the south side of the existing building, adding 72 units and 98 parking spaces, give or take.

The complex is generally used by students of IUPUI, with the campus located just across White River to the east.

Announced in 2015, original plans for the complex from Indianapolis-based Annex Student Living LLC called for a $32 million, 244-unit development with 333 parking spaces on the property at the southwest corner of White River Parkway West Drive and West 10th Street. Annex developed the first phase, which consisted of 107 units with more than 160 parking spaces.

The firm sold the property and the first phase of Annex on 10th to Spectra for $23 million in February, according to county assessor's records.

Spectra’s plans for phase two are less ambitious than Annex’s were, with the total units and parking spaces for the project decreasing substantially from what was originally planned.

Overall, the project is expected to have 179 units and more than 260 surface lot spaces when phase two is completed. Farris said Spectra is working with CSO Architects on the addition, since the firm also designed the original Annex project.

The complex offers studio apartments, as well as two- and four-bedroom units, starting at $620 per bed per month. Each apartment includes  furnishings, with the price inclusive of cable, internet, sewage and trash services.

Farris said scaling down the project “worked out better” for his firm. The addition was “different enough” from the original plan to need city approval for the changes, he said, noting that it won approval from the Regional Center Hearing examiner in early April. It is expected to be heard by the city’s Metropolitan Development Commission the week of May 1. 

That would be the final step for the project—aside from permitting—before construction can begin.

Farris declined to discuss the investment being made in the project, citing the firm’s policy against disclosing such information publicly.

The project is expected to start sometime this summer, with a 12-month build-out period. Farris said he expects the project to be completed by August 2020. The full complex eventually will be rebranded from Annex on 10th.

Spectra is a relatively new company, founded in New Castle in 2017. According to state records, the firm moved to Indianapolis earlier this year. The group is working on two other projects: one at Ferris State University in Michigan and another at Warner University in Florida.

The Annex project is one of several housing projects targeted for IUPUI students that have sprouted over the past several years. It required the assembly of parcels from a pair of owners, including a northern piece previously occupied by the American Wire Rope & Sling manufacturing plant.

Other residential projects northwest of the White River have included the conversion of the old Bush Stadium to the Stadium Lofts, along with the addition of Stadium Flats.

Student-friendly projects east of the river include 9 on Canal along the Central Canal, in addition to the Avenue and 1201 Indiana near West 10th Street and Indiana Avenue.