A 348-unit apartment complex off Mundy Mill Road got the Oakwood City Council’s first approval Monday, Nov. 12.

Final approval will come later as the Atlanta-based The Residential Group is seeking to annex and rezone 26 acres for the complex, which would be between Mundy Mill subdivision in Gainesville and Old Oakwood Road and Oakwood Hills Drive in Oakwood.

“This property is designed specifically to take advantage of the growth of the University of North Georgia (campus in Oakwood),” said Kurt Alexander, principal with The Residential Group.

The units would vary between one and three bedrooms and be spread out among nine buildings. Also, the complex would feature a swimming pool, an amenity area and a small commercial area facing Mundy Mill Road.

Alexander said after the vote that if all goes well with the project, construction could begin in the summer of 2019, with the first apartments opening in the fall of 2020. The entire complex could be finished by the spring of 2021.

Councilman Stephen Hendrix asked Alexander if UNG was able to run a shuttle to the complex, “would there be a central area where (there’s) maybe a bench that’s covered or something where (students) can walk from the complex and wait to be picked up?”

Alexander said his company “has done bus waiting areas” in other projects.

“If we could form that alliance with the university, absolutely,” he said. “Last project we built, we did an Uber pickup lounge area. That’s becoming so prevalent.”