One of Lawrence’s largest and oldest apartment complexes is ready to expand with newer apartments and a clubhouse.

Developers of Meadowbrook Apartments have filed plans with city officials to add 130 new units near 15th Street and Crestline Drive. The new apartments would be built on about 8 acres of open space at the northwest corner of the intersection. They are scheduled to be completed by fall 2003, said Don Cole, general manager for the apartment complex.

If approved, the project would push the total number of apartment units started in Lawrence this year to more than 400, nearly twice last year’s total of 224.

At Meadowbrook, the expansion isn’t because developers of the 501-unit apartment complex see the number of Lawrence renters increasing. Instead, Cole said, the growth was in response to shifting tastes among Lawrence renters, who increasingly desire a different type of apartment than traditionally has been available.

“We just feel it’s time to add a few more units because there seems to be a growing percentage of people who like living in something that is new,” he said. “This will give us an opportunity to serve them a little better and to upgrade some of our amenities.”

Cole said it had been more than 20 years since new units were added at the Meadowbrook complex, which was started in the late 1960s.

The expansion project also will include a clubhouse, exercise facility and outdoor swimming pool, Cole said. He declined to release a price estimate.

It will include 79 two-bedroom, 44 one-bedroom and 7 three-bedroom apartments. The expansion was included in the original development plan filed for the apartment complex in the late 1960s.

Lawrence-Douglas County planners are expected to consider the plan at their Aug. 28 meeting.

The Meadowbrook expansion is the latest of several new apartment projects in Lawrence.

In June, construction began on the 200-unit Legends apartment complex near 24th Street and Inverness Drive. Excavation work has begun on a 71-unit Canyon Court apartment complex near Sixth Street and Comet Lane. And construction is in the final stages of the 16-unit Antioch Place apartments, 2201 Westdale Road.

Jo Barnes, a developer of Antioch Place, agreed with Cole that tenant expectations were changing.

“I don’t know if the overall demand is growing for apartments in Lawrence, but we think there is probably an increasing demand for newer, nicer, better-maintained property,” Barnes said. “It seems like people are expecting their apartments to have a little bit more square footage and privacy than they used to.”

Tim Keller, a Lawrence appraiser who follows the apartment market, said lower interest rates probably had spurred some developers to build new apartment complexes lately. But he said he didn’t expect the community to experience an apartment building boom like it did in 1996, when 842 new units were built.

“We haven’t seen what I would call extraordinary apartment construction,” Keller said. “It still seems pretty consistent with our overall growth.

“I think with the Meadowbrook project that is probably just more of a situation of having a proven location, a proven development and proven developers saying that it just makes sense for them to do it now.”