ORONO, Maine — Boston-based Orion Student Housing, which purchased the Orchard Trails apartment complex one year ago, is before town planners seeking to add 61 units to the Park Street property.
Orion UME Edge LLC has submitted a preliminary subdivision application for a clustered student housing residential development at 111 Park St., located between Washburn Place and Orchard Trails Drive.
Planners started to review the preliminary site plan at their April meeting, and Wednesday will continue the public hearing. The planning board meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the Orono council chambers.
The preliminary site plans show six apartment buildings that each hold six single-family units, two larger units that hold 12 multifamily units, and a single facilities unit for a manager.
Orchard Trails, which was built in 2006 near the Rangeley Road entrance to the University of Maine and can house up to 576 residents, was purchased in May 2014 by Orion Student Housing, which owns a 688-bed facility in Durham, New Hampshire, another 197-bed complex near the University of New Hampshire and a 141-bed property in Bloomington, Indiana.
Orchard Trails was the first large student housing complex to be built or planned on Park Street. The Grove, which can house up to 620 students, opened three years ago on Park Street, and the Avenue Orono, a 270-unit complex located at the end of Washburn Drive adjacent to Orchard Trails, received planning board approval in June 2014.