Student Housing Project Planned for Church Land Near Baylor

Let Baylor University students rejoice — a church complex near the college is set to make room for a student housing development.

Austin-based owner-operator Parallel plans to spend $59 million to build a seven-story student housing development on the northeastern portion of Seventh and James Baptist Church in Waco, according to a Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation filing. The development will have 264 units accommodating 630 beds in a metal frame construction, the filing and Parallel’s plans show. TDLR filings are preliminary and subject to change.

The 127-year-old congregation owns about 4.5 acres next to Baylor University, and the 2.4-acre parcel allotted to the upcoming project is now under contract, according to Cromwell Commercial Group associate Caleb Loudamy, who has the listing for the property.

The new building will replace the sanctuary of the church, which was built in 1955, a student newspaper reported.

Attorney and theologian Kent McKeever, a Baylor affiliate and member of the church, has an organizational role in the project, according to the filing. McKeever, founding partner of nonprofit legal aid organization, Waco Legal Services, attracted national attention some years ago for wearing a prison jumpsuit for Lent.

Neither McKeever nor an associate with Parallel immediately responded to requests for comment.

In a trend dubbed “Yes in God’s Backyard,” developers around the country are scouting land owned by religious organizations, which are among the biggest landowners in America. In Houston, a senior housing project is planned for land owned by a Methodist church in the Third Ward neighborhood. In Austin, a church is developing a mixed-use project around its next branch. And in Dallas, Generation Housing Partners is planning to replace a defunct church building with an affordable apartment complex.Waco isn’t the only college town in Texas where developers are putting millions into student housing. In College Station, where local ordinances constricted student rental housing supply until last year, Subtext plans to spend $160 million on a 21-story tower a block and a half from Texas A&M University.