BRYAN, Texas — After a public hearing, presentation, and consideration, the Bryan City Council voted unanimously to approve the development of 6.2 acres of land in Bryan to become a student apartment complex.
"We are both teachers. We loved our students, but that doesn't mean we want to live right next to them." One concerned local said. "They have very different lifestyles. They're often transient. They're not going to care for their homes, the way our neighborhood does."
The Mods will be located directly across the street from the Blinn College District Bryan campus, with transit issues for students being one of the main reasons for the creation of the complex.
"You are talking about Blinn college, people are trying to save money by spending a few years in Blinn before they hopefully transfer to Texas A&M where it's going to cost them a lot more," Justin Walton from LJR Properties said. "So every dollar that you can save them in the process by not buying a parking pass, by not driving across town at $4 gas, right? That's really important to students."
Walton was the applicant for this rezoning request. He believes, along with the dozens of students in attendance at last night's meeting that being able to walk to class will decrease the traffic during the school year, but residents think otherwise.
"We're also concerned about the traffic on Villa Maria. I've spent many years in College Station and I personally don't want Villa Maria to become another Texas Avenue with accidents, noise, and traffic," A concerned local said." "But When you have student housing along there, you're gonna have it."
This complex is now set to be the closest student housing apartments for the over 9,000 students at the Blinn Bryan campus, with rooms going for anywhere from $600 to $700.
"We know that these take up to 18 months to just get the planning part of the project done. And I would say we're halfway through that right now. We're not done with the battle," Walton said. "We have to finish the designs we have to submit to all the engineering to the city and they're still processing to go through, but this was a major hurdle and this is what's going to make the project successful."