Downtown Waco West Campus Lofts add ‘mod’

WACO – Hayes Modular Group is doing groundwork for 36 “modular” apartments on the former campus of Waco Independent School District’s Alternative School, 805 S. Eighth St.

Those units are the first phase of the 2.6-acre West Campus Lofts project across I-35 from Baylor University. They are expected to open in 2015.

The second phase of the project will include as many as 50 loft units at the school itself, which was built in 1922 and served as South Waco Junior High School.

Hayes’ group plans to refurbish a basketball gym for residents’ use and replace surface parking with a parking deck. This phase could open in 2016.

The rectangular modular units, complete with interior drywall, flooring, sinks and granite countertops, are built in a factory then assembled onsite. Once complete, the building should look like conventional onsite construction, said Warren Hayes of Hayes Modular Group.

The modular units were originally intended for Legacy Lofts, a complex at University Parks Dr. and Garden Dr., that was abandoned in early 2011 due to financing problems.

Trendsetter Homes had already constructed many of the modular units, and Hayes bought the units with the idea of assembling them in Waco.

West Campus Lofts is part of a rapidly redeveloping section of downtown that borders I-35 near Baylor. The Tinsley Place townhouse project, which will have more than 200 units, and the Gore Creek Partners project, adding up to 75 units of “upscale” student housing, are nearby.