American Campus Communities, an Austin-based developer of student housing, is preparing to make an investment in the Waco market.

It has secured a building permit to place a 180-unit complex at 1101 Speight Ave., where a former H-E-B building was demolished when the grocery giant built its 121,000-square-foot H-E-B Plus! at South Valley Mills Drive and the Interstate 35 frontage road.

The estimated cost of the student housing is $34.5 million, according to the permit.

American Campus Communities reportedly has $6.8 billion in assets and has developed, owns or manages 196 apartment communities.

Meanwhile, Waco real estate agent Jim Peevey said the retail strip adjacent to the new H-E-B Plus! is now full. He has brokered leases there with FedEx Kinko’s and Copeland Insurance that took the remaining 6,000 square feet. He added that another building on the edge of the grocery parking lot is attracting attention from several would-be lessees.

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