The University of Nevada, Reno's ever-increasing enrollment continues driving new private student-housing developments to soak up incoming students.

Capstone Collegiate Communities, an Alabama-based company, wants to build a 165-unit project with capacity for 625 students on the land currently occupied by single-family houses and Bibo Coffee Co. on Record Street southeast of campus.

For now Capstone is proposing changes to Evans Avenue traffic patterns and requesting the city of Reno abandon a small alley before deciding to move forward with larger plans.

“If you look at the numbers (UNR has) had a tremendous enrollment rate," said Mike Baker, executive vice president of development for Capstone Properties. "You’re seeing increases to in-state and northern California enrollment and we’re trying to help fill that need. I know (UNR is) building some dorms but it hasn’t captured the growth.”

Identity Reno, Towers at Pink Hill and the university's Great Basin Hall all currently under construction, won't be enough to absorb the increase, he said.

Last year, UNR's residence halls were bursting at 121 percent capacity. UNR President Marc Johnson previously told the RGJ that the school's total population will probably reach 30,000 in the next five years despite their efforts to throttle down enrollment.

Each new project adds a few hundred beds, so keeping up with the demand will be tough.

Capstone picked a location closer to campus because surveys they conducted showed students don't want to bridge the gap between campus and downtown Reno, yet.

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"We looked at the other side of the interstate, but students still don’t seem to want to be over there at this point," Baker said.

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Baker said his company is still early in the process and hasn't finished drawings or fully committed to the project in case certain aspects of the project don't work out. Increased construction costs are a major concern.

"We're still working on the feasibility of it all," he said. "Hopefully we’ll know for sure if we’re moving forward in the next couple months."

Fred Atcheson, who owns half of the houses and Bibo Coffee Co.'s building, said he is in contract to sell his portion of the project footprint to Capstone by December.

All of his houses are rented to students, Atcheson said, so the new project would replace those houses with higher density student accommodations. Atcheson said he hopes Capstone keeps Bibo because he and the owners spent a lot of effort building it into a hot spot. But, he admitted Capstone might choose to take it down with the rest of the houses.

Baker said he hasn't reached out to the owners of Bibo yet because it's still too soon in the development process. He did say they aren't planning retail in the project and isn't sure if the Bibo building will fit in the project footprint.

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The plan Capstone submitted asks the city of Reno to abandon an alley created in 1925 that is now more of a driveway for the surrounding houses instead of an actual through-way.

The owners of the nine houses, which are mostly rentals, signed off on the abandonment of the alley.

The request also seeks to eliminate a street island that creates a Y in the road where Evans Avenue meets Ninth Street. A triangular island separates a right-turn yield lane from the main two-way street. Capstone hopes to absorb the right-turn lane into their project footprint, leaving behind the regular two-way street, according to the Traffic Works impact study submitted to the city.

"We are aware of the Capstone project and welcome private development around the campus that provides needed services for our students, faculty, staff and the surrounding community," Kerri Garcia, director of communications for the University of Nevada, Reno, wrote in an email to the RGJ.

"We are generally concerned about any potential impact on pedestrian and vehicular traffic in the area of Ninth and Evans – already a major campus 'pinch point' in terms of congestion," Garcia added.

The study noted that traffic would increase and the congestion would continue as more bicycle, pedestrian and car traffic flows from the housing project. But overall, the congestion was within tolerable limits during class passing periods, according to Traffic Works.

Baker said the city also worried that Bibo would increase that car and pedestrian traffic as people continued to patronize the business.

The university also owns a parking lot adjacent to the property. In the past, President Johnson talked about either building or jointly managing a parking garage with a private developer.

"We are still in preliminary discussions regarding planning in the entire Gateway area south of campus and the notion of a joint parking garage is one of several options being studied," Garcia wrote.

The Capstone project would include two stories of parking, but Baker said that still won't be enough for all their residents. It would also include another five stories of rooms above that.

Baker said their plan will need to incorporate all of these concerns moving forward and he hopes to have more details later this year.

Mike Higdon is the city life reporter at the RGJ and can be found on Instagram @MillennialMike, on Facebook at Mike Higdon, Reno Life and on Twitter@MikeHigdon.