A Kansas development group has been applying to build extremely high-density apartment buildings near college campuses in Norman, Stillwater, Lincoln, Manhattan and Lawrence. From what I've read, Norman & Lincoln denied their applications, Manhattan denied one and approved another, and Stillwater approved two. The denials were consistently because the cities felt that the applications were for too many units per acre. So I wonder: How much is too much?

Their Norman application sought to build 100 units/acre which is four times their code of 26 units/acre. The Lincoln application sought 233 units on 1.52 acres (153/acre). Both were turned down. Yet in Stillwater both applications were approved with similar density, one of which exceeds a variety of ordinances: Building height (72' height sought v. 50' max by code), bicycle spaces (20 sought v. 107 required), handicap parking spaces (4 sought v. 6 required by code), regular parking spaces (151 sought v. 152 required by code), and even the size of parking spaces (9' x 18' sought v. 9' x 20' required).

Clearly some cities embrace dense apartments while others oppose them. This company seems to seek to cram a lot of people into not much space, and then asks for several variances.

There are smart urban real estate guys on this board - what makes a dense apartment project successful, and is there a tipping point where residents feel like chickens in a coop?