After the prominent Target at The Standard Building located on University Avenue has announced its closing, it has become more and more clear that mixed-use housing is facing difficulties for even the largest brands. While this particular instance was due to outside issues (difficult parking, smaller size, etc.), we should ask ourselves the future of Gainesville’s newest trend: mixed-use student housing.

According to a recent study by the Kelley A. Bergstrom Real Estate Center at the University of Florida’s Warrington College of Business, there are extremely high retail vacancy rates in the most popular student housing properties near the University.

“High asking rents from developers and over-saturation of retail in Gainesville has led to this vacancy around the university, creating shell spaces with no history of tenancy,” the study says.

In referring to The Standard, which boasts a 100% residential occupancy rate with a waiting list, the retail floor only has 54% occupancy and sees a large turnover of smaller restaurants. Even worse, The Hub properties, not even a street down from The Standard, has never had a tenant on their first floor despite the property being in the works for years. The Continuum building, the oldest of the group in the student, has had retail vacancies for more than 10 years, with a vacancy rate of 84%.

There are several issues highlighted in the study. Many of the spaces are designed for office or retail spaces, meaning tenants would have to pay to support additional plumbing, grease traps, or ventilation.

According to the Gainesville Sun, “the city has been recently asking that developers build out all the necessary amenities for the bottom floors so it is move-in ready for a tenant, making it more likely to have rented space.”

Additionally, the city has denied permits for multi-story buildings directly on University Ave. as they wanted retail on their first floor, despite the market not being there, according to Bill Hughes, clinical professor, and research director who was part of the mixed-housing study.

“There is vacant retail right across the street, so they can’t justify it, and therefore they have not started construction,” he said, adding that the city may want to allow more flexibility for developers during permitting. “The one thing we can tell is this persistent requirement to have front-facing retail under multi-family story residential is not successful,” Hughes said. “In fact, it’s creating a void and creating negative space, so I think there needs to be an alternative.”

However, the government has had a different story. Mayor Lauren Poe stated in an email to the Gainesville Sun that the city does allow for residential units on the first floor, and this has been a private market choice. “Much of the commercial rents are overpriced compared to the rest of the market. This (is why) they sit empty,” he said. “If they brought their rents into line with the market, they would be occupied.”