BALTIMORE AND AUSTIN, TEXAS — Memphis, Tenn.-based Education Realty Trust (NYSE: EDR) is developing two new on-campus student housing projects. The first project is located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. EDR is partnering with local developer Otis Warren & Co. to construct a 20-story, 572-bed residence hall for graduate students at Johns Hopkins' new Science + Technology Park. The project is located across the street from a 3-acre green space and will contain 8,300 square feet of ground-floor retail. It will built to LEED-Silver specifications. The project team includes Marks, Thomas Architects and Clark Construction. The groundbreaking is scheduled for the third quarter, with an anticipated opening in the summer of 2012. Upon completion EDR will manage the project for a 10-year term.
Johns Hopkins owns the land the new residence hall is being built on, but it is leasing it to a subsidiary of East Baltimore Development Inc. (EDBI), a nonprofit group dedicated to the city's urban revitalization. EDBI is partnering with Forest City Enterprises to redevelop 88 acres adjacent to Johns Hopkins' east campus. The residence hall will serve as the anchor for Phase I of the project, which is known as New East Side. It will ultimately contain 1,200 mixed-income homes consisting of new or renovated single-family homes, duplexes, townhomes, apartments and senior housing. The project will also contain 3 acres of green space and up to 80,000 square feet of retail space. At full build-out, the Sciencce + Technology Park will contain 5 buildings with 1.1 million square feet of laboratory space.
On the other side of the country, EDR was recently selected to develop, own and manage a new high-rise student housing community located near the campus of the University of Texas in Austin. The University of Texas System Board of Regents has authorized the ground lease of 1.43 acres located at 600 W. 24th St. to EDR for a 60-year term with a construction period ending no later that September 1, 2013. EDR plans to construct a residential building with ground-floor retail space and related parking facilities. Its construction team for the project will consist of PageSoutherlandPage Architects and Hensel Phelps Construction Company. A groundbreaking date will be set once the ground lease is completed.
EDR is completing the project through its On-Campus Equity program. With this financing program, EDR provides the equity to construct a student housing community on university-owned land. Upon completion, EDR manages the community for an agreed-upon term, providing the university with new on-campus housing without the financial risk usually incurred by such a project.
— Coleman Wood
For more information about the student housing industry, please visit StudentHousingBusiness.com.