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An off-campus housing project the size of more than 25 football fields is on its way to Carbondale.

Education Realty Trust, Inc., a Memphis-based realty group that specializes in student housing, revealed plans Friday for a new state-of-the-art student apartment complex, which will be named The Reserve at Saluki Pointe.

Rod Schimpf, one of the project's developers, said Saluki Pointe would consist of 11 apartment buildings ranging from four bedrooms, four baths to one bedroom, one bath. Each unit will be fully furnished and include kitchen appliances and a washer and dryer.

A resort-style clubhouse, a swimming pool, a fitness center, study center, movie theater, basketball and volleyball facilities, recreation rooms and tanning beds will also be included.

Construction on the 528-bed student community will begin early this month and is expected to be completed by fall 2008, EDR spokesman Bob Hetherington said.

The apartment complex will be constructed on a 27-acre plot of land located at the intersection of U.S. 51 and South Illinois Avenue (Old 51), near the Carbondale Reservoir, City Manager Jeff Doherty said.

Hetherington said the site should provide some of the most luxurious student living conditions in southern Illinois.

"The communities and the companies involved are extremely nice communities," Hetherington said. "They are loaded with amenities that students want. It's a pretty upscale kind of look and feel."

A development team consisting of Design Works and Schimpf Construction, Inc. - both Carbondale-based companies - will head the project. Regions Bank in Memphis will finance the project.

Schimpf, owner of Schimpf Construction, Inc., said the construction for Saluki Pointe should be unique from other projects his company has completed.

He said he would use an assembly line approach for Saluki Pointe.

"It is just going to be a mass production type instead of the normal commercial type construction that we typically do," Schimpf said. "[Saluki Pointe] will be a lot of identical work and it will be a more of a production style of construction rather the unique stuff we normally do for commercial buildings."

EDR is a real-estate investment trust that owns, develops and manages student housing communities throughout the country. With more than 60 communities across 21 states, EDR is one of America's largest operators for collegiate student housing, according to its Web site.

Universities with EDR housing include Michigan State University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois and University of Missouri.

Hetherington said Carbondale had to pass a number of different criteria for EDR to decide to build here.

"There are a bunch of things the company looks at when making an assessment about where it wants to be," Hethernington said. "Number one is the university and the vitality of the university. And then it is a matter of other factors."

A second phase, which could add as many as 288 additional beds, is projected to open in the fall 2009, depending on market demand.

With as many as 900 rooms available by 2009, Saluki Pointe would only add to an already competitive marketplace for local apartment complexes.

Jon Sauser, owner of the newly constructed Aspen Court Apartments at 1101 E. Grand Ave., said while Saluki Pointe certainly poses a potential threat, he doesn't anticipate a huge impact to the student housing market.

"There is always going to be those people who are trying to pinch pennies and find the cheapest rent available to them," Sauser said. "Those people are fine with living in a trailer park or a run-down apartment. There is a market for those places and there is a market for us."

Daily Egyptian writer Brian Feldt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 258 or bfeldt@siude.com.

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