OREM — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will likely build a stake center in southwest Orem to accommodate up to eight student wards.

Plans for the double-chapel stake center — on 5 acres of property near a new student-apartment complex that at one time were going to be used for office space or college classrooms — were approved Wednesday by Orem's Planning Commission.

Construction on the 35,000-square-foot center at 1075 Geneva Road will start sometime around Sept. 1, said Scott Trotter, a spokesman for the LDS Church.

Most of the student members of the stake will be residents of the apartment complex, Parkway Crossing. Other members will come from student apartments in the area, according to officials who spoke at a meeting this week.

The 5 acres of land on which the stake center will be built formerly housed a scuba dive shop, and once was the planned site for office space or Utah Valley State College classrooms.

The developers of Parkway Crossing razed the old scuba shop, and the city rezoned the 5 acres for a residential-retail mix, said David Stroud, city planner.

Parkway Crossing was the first development in Orem to be zoned for mixed use, which means the development can have both retail shops and living quarters.

Now there are a handful of such developments. The idea behind Parkway Crossing was to have a community where people could live, learn and work without having to drive.

According to building plans filed with the city by the developers of Parkway Crossing in September 2001, two buildings would be constructed at the site. Those buildings, according to the plans, would either be leased to firms so students living at Parkway Crossing could have easy access to employment or to UVSC, which could use the space for classrooms.

Those plans, however, apparently have been scrapped.

Now that the city's Planning Commission has OK'd the plans for the stake center, the property is expected to be sold by Parkway Crossing to the LDS Church, Stroud said.

The developers of Parkway Crossing did not return a phone message seeking comment Friday.

A spokesman for UVSC said there is no need for classroom space.

"We go through cycles of needing space. We have rented facilities in the past," the spokesman, Derek Hall, said. "We don't have a need for space right now."

Parkway Crossing and UVSC never signed a contract for classroom space, Hall said.

"However, if they had space and if we needed space, that would be the logical place to go," Hall said.

In 2003, Parkway Crossing pledged $1.7 million for the naming rights of UVSC's new $4 million baseball stadium. Financing for the stadium came through the issuance of a bond. The total principal and interest for the bond financing is some $6 million.

Parkway Crossing missed the first of 10 annual payments, which was due in November 2004. Payments vary each year, Hall said.

UVSC must make the first payment on the bond in November 2005.

Parkway Crossing developers allegedly told UVSC that there was low vacancy at the apartments.

UVSC, however, will not look for a new stadium donor because it signed a legal contract with Parkway Crossing for naming rights, Hall said.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com