In their mid-April meeting on the Georgia Southern University campus, the regents of the University System of Georgia unanimously authorized Georgia Southern's almost $3 million one-year sub-rental of 81 apartments containing 240 student beds in the privately owned new Charme on Georgia Avenue complex.

Technically, it's the Georgia Southern University Housing Foundation Inc. that is "sub-landlord," while the Board of Regents is legally "sub-tenant" in renting the space for Georgia Southern's use and benefit.

Since student apartments developer Rael Corp launched the project in winter 2023, construction has been targeted for summer 2025 completion, and appears to be on track, judging from appearances at the site and a statement in the memo for the Board of Regents' April 15 session. "Charme is expected to open for the Fall 2025 semester," it stated. Georgia Southern's fall semester classes begin Aug.  13.

The 5-to-6-story building, technically just "mid-rise" but very imposing compared to older stand-alone apartment buildings in Statesboro, reportedly contains 291 apartment units with space for 694 beds. So for the rent amount of $243,750 monthly, or $2,925,000 for the year, the university will secure less than one-third of Charme on Georgia Avenue's total units but more than one-third of the total bed count.

The initial term of the sub-rental agreement was set to begin "around Aug. 1, 2025" and end July 15, 2026. The units sub-rented for the university will have 84,972 square feet of floor space, so the rent amounts to $34.42 per rentable square foot for the year, the regents' summary stated.

Although not stated this way in the memo, the university's rental cost per bed, or in other words per student, apparently would be almost $1,016 a month. However, the base rent will include water, electricity and internet service.

On-campus housing supply maxed out

According to the explanation given the regents, the university is making this move to secure apartments for returning sophomores through seniors at a time when the anticipated influx of freshmen, who get first dibs on on-campus housing, is expected to swell the number of students wanting to live on campus beyond the supply.

Georgia Southern "is currently projecting an on-campus student housing occupancy of 103% for Fall 2025, primarily due to an increase in the incoming freshman class. Leasing these additional off-campus beds would enable (Georgia Southern) to offer housing to returning upperclass students who wish to live on or close to campus but may not be able to meet the credit qualifications and security deposit required to enter into a direct lease with the Landlord," stated the last paragraph of the memo.

That landlord, owner of the property, is RDC Statesboro Investments LLC, which is registered in Georgia but whose principal business address is that of Rael Corporation headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

Charme contains a mix of studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and four-bedroom apartments. Amenities include an elevated pool, an outdoor games area, a game room and a coffee shop. It has parking structures not included in the floor count.

It occupies 124,582 square feet, or 2.86 acres, of ground, the former University Plaza shopping center site. This is across the street from Centennial Place, a university-owned complex housing up to 1,001 students.

Charme alone comprises about 20% of the roughly 1,500 housing units that Statesboro Planning and Housing Administrator Justin Williams said were "going vertical" — in other words, actively under construction — in Statesboro as of April. These are from a larger number — more than 3,900 units ranging from stand-alone single-family homes and townhouses to small apartments — planned or proposed by developers as of last fall.

Pointe Grand's contrast

Another apartment complex noticeably going vertical this spring, Pointe Grand, contrasts with Charme both in the type of buildings used and the demographic of residents the owners hope to attract. On Lovett Road, across from the back of Statesboro Mall and beside L.A.  Waters Furniture, Pointe Grand is a complex of six long, three-story buildings planned to contain 216 apartments, plus a fitness center and clubhouse area.

Occupying an 18.5-acre site, the development is hard to miss as some of the buildings, lined up almost out to Lovett, have siding up while others still have green-backed insulation sheaths showing. There is a newly paved central drive, not yet open, between the buildings.

Pointe Grand is the work of Hillpointe, an Athens, Georgia-based company "focused on the development of market-rate workforce housing across the Sun Belt," its website proclaims.

So it is not intended, at least not primarily, to attract university students. "Pointe Grand" is also the surname for Hillpointe's complexes in more than 20  other Georgia, South Carolina and northern and central Florida cities. So there's the Pointe Grand Augusta, Pointe Grand Columbia, Pointe Grand Macon, Pointe Grand Brunswick, Pointe Grand Daytona Beach. …

So far, the construction fence here just identifies the Statesboro work in progress as "Pointe Grand Apartment Homes."