If you’re a college student in Beaufort, you may have a new place to live by 2018

A planned Beaufort apartment development is aimed at college students in northern Beaufort County.

A 27-unit project is planned for the northwest corner of Boundary Street and Newcastle Street. The apartments are intended to provide student housing for USC Beaufort and Technical College of the Lowcountry but could also serve as workforce housing for teachers, police officers, nurses and firefighters.

USC president Harris Pastides said during a recent visit that the school plans to grow in Beaufort, said developer Dick Stewart, whose 303 Associates is behind the apartment plans.

“We think Beaufort is a great place for college growth and college students, and we want to do what we can to facilitate USCB’s success in this community — and we want to do that for USCB and TCL,” Stewart said.

Plans for the new building will go before the city’s design board on Thursday.

The three-story building would include 12 three-bedroom apartments, 12 with two bedrooms, and three units with one bedroom, according to an application submitted to the city.

If the design is approved, Stewart said he plans to break ground in August or September and for the apartments to be finished by about June 2018.

That June completion date is designed “to make sure we’re far enough ahead of the fall enrollment that the school is comfortable committing to programs up here, and they can help recruit students to come in and occupy the place,” Stewart said.

Prices for the units haven’t been determined. The lease rates will be competitive with student housing in Savannah, Bluffton and Charleston, Stewart said.

USC Beaufort is developing its own proposal for student housing in northern Beaufort County, spokeswoman Kerry Jarvis said. Once approved by school officials, USCB will release a formal request for proposals.

The process could take six weeks or more, Jarvis said.

USCB opened its first campus housing in Beaufort in 2012, a renovated historic home on Carteret Street that can house 16 students. Rates there are $3,175 for the semester or $6,350 for the school year, according to USCB’s website.

The Boundary Street apartments are the latest plans for lower-cost housing.

Another workforce housing project has been proposed at Ribaut Road and Pine Court. The 60 apartment units would be affordable for firefighters, nurses, teachers and others who work nearby, developer Geoff Grout said.

Boundary Street and Newcastle Street

This story was originally published June 7, 2017 at 10:56 AM with the headline "If you’re a college student in Beaufort, you may have a new place to live by 2018."