People tour a courtyard at The Columns, a new apartment complex for WKU students, Tuesday, July 24, 2012, in Bowling Green, Ky. (Photo by Alex Slitz/Daily News)

A week from today, students will walk through the doors of the old Bowling Green Junior High School, only this time they will be college students living in parts of the historic property.

The Columns, being developed by Bowling Green Capital, is a lease-a-bedroom concept that will open this fall with 230 beds, 50 more than first thought.

“The leasing was going so well, we just thought we would go ahead and get these ready,” said Allen Schubert, president of Bowling Green Capital.

Schubert said that has meant the completion of two more of the five buildings on the property, pushing crews to get the work done in time. Two of the buildings will be ready Aug. 1 and two more will be ready Aug. 15.

“It looks rough now but give me two more weeks and we will have the rest of the landscaping done, and it will look great,” he said.

Schubert said crews have been focused on getting all of the interior work done before moving outside to highlight the property.

“I think we have taken a unique structure and really added value to it,” he said.

The property is 75 percent to 80 percent leased now and by the time classes at Western Kentucky University begin Aug. 24, Schubert expects it will be fully occupied.

On Tuesday, Schubert showed off the property to some members of the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce and his banker, Craig Browning, regional president of U.S. Bank.

The bank backed the project for multiple reasons, Browning said.

It’s a very high-profile project for the community, given the eyesore the property had been, he said.

The property had only been partially developed after the Bowling Green city schools sold it in 2002 to an out-of-state developer for $800,000. Schubert said he will likely have $4 million to $5 million invested in the first phase of construction. The second phase will include the restoration of the fifth and final building, which housed the auditorium.

“There also is a need for additional student housing,” Browning said of why the bank supported the project. “And this developer is a known commodity who takes pride in his work. He is willing to invest his own money for a community project that is needed. So this just makes a lot of sense.”

Schubert has developed projects in multiple states but Kentucky residents may be more familiar with the work he has done to turn properties around in Lexington.

“The location is great, and we saw the value in it,” Browning said.

Brad Taylor, president of the Bowling Green Hot Rods, was impressed with the project.

“They certainly didn’t have anything like this when I was in college,” Taylor said while looking at a three-bedroom unit that had 12-foot-tall exposed ceilings.

Taylor said the 10- or 12-month leases that students have will hopefully encourage them to stick around Bowling Green more and participate in activities the city has to offer, including walking the two blocks to Bowling Green Ballpark.

Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon and radio executive Barry Williams stood in the atrium of what used to be the gymnasium reminiscing. The atrium is filled with plants and mini-patios for the apartments that surround it.

“I met my wife right up there on the second floor,” Buchanon said, pointing to a corner of the building.

Buchanon was a freshman and the then-Ellen Deemer was an eighth-grader at a Bowling Green High School basketball game Jan. 12, 1967. The high school preceded the junior high.

“When I look in the classroom building, I think about Mrs. (Pat) Denney’s English class when the 1969 hail storm took out all the windows in the room,” Buchanon said.

Schubert said he expects that many people in the community have a lot of sentiment tied to the property, so when the work is fully complete next year, he plans to have a public unveiling.

Until then, he will focus on getting the project ready for students.