Student Housing

Glenn Meyer Pavlov Expansion

Pavlov Media is accelerating the expansion of its fiber network and fiber-to-the-home initiatives with a key investment from the world’s largest infrastructure investor, Macquarie Asset Management. The funding will help Pavlov Media augment its coverage of student and multifamily housing, developing and broadening resident access to high-speed Internet across a variety of property types. “We are ramping up our growth plans with a combination of building municipal fiber networks in college towns and extending service to underserved areas adjacent to our core markets,” says Glenn Meyer, board member and president of Pavlov Media. “It’s basically more of what we have already been doing but on a larger scale.” Pavlov Media is already the nation’s largest private provider of fiber-based Internet and video services to off-campus student housing, connecting properties in more than 150 U.S. markets and Canada to its national backbone via its own last-mile, municipal fiber networks and third-party circuits. The Champaign, Illinois-based company serves approximately 1,000 multifamily and student buildings encompassing more than 285,000 beds, and in recent years has begun extending fiber to customers in areas adjacent to its core student-housing markets. Now the broadband service provider is poised to quicken the pace of its growth with …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
CLS-View-Square

From a leasing and rental rate perspective, the outlook couldn’t be brighter in the student housing space. Yardi’s National Student Housing Report saw 96.6 percent of beds leased and an annual rent growth of 4.1 percent for the fall 2022 preleasing season at its ‘Yardi 200’ universities.  These numbers are, for obvious reasons, a boon for the industry at large — particularly following several abnormal years surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.  But it isn’t all sunshine and roses where higher rental rates are concerned. Raising the price to live in your properties is a delicate balance, and while there are many inherent benefits to owners and operators, there are also a number of issues that need to be considered — chiefly as it relates to a higher level of expectations from both students and parents. Levels On The Rise The industry’s performance ahead of the fall 2022 semester was nothing short of robust, and Casey Petersen, chief operating officer of PeakMade Real Estate, anticipates rent growth going into the 2023-2024 academic year to be even stronger. “We’ve budgeted for higher rent growth this year, and based on current velocity, we expect to significantly outperform,” he says.  This experience is not unique to PeakMade; …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
Power-Panel

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Experts in the student housing industry are bullish on the outlook for the upcoming academic year, citing the strong performance and outstanding fundamentals of the sector.  At the recent 15th annual InterFace Student Housing conference in Austin, industry professionals from around the country convened at the JW Marriott downtown to share insights and discuss industry trends. The first full day of the conference kicked off with the ‘Power Panel’ session, where a consortium of high-level executives provided their outlook for the year ahead.  “Evidenced once again by a packed house in this room, the sector is popping,” began moderator Peter Katz, executive director of Institutional Property Advisors. “As we continued to experience unprecedented, off-the-charts asset operations in 2022 and through the first quarter of this year, while simultaneously seeing the most mercurial capital markets we’ve seen in years, we have now statistically proven that the industry is not only recession resilient but pandemic resilient.” The real estate industry has been under a lot of pressure since the summer of 2022 as a result of the rapid rise in the cost of debt, which has created challenges as it pertains to valuing assets. “The recent quarter-point rise has …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

SWEETWATER, FLA. — AARE Sunbelt, an affiliate of Adam America Real Estate, and JW Capital Management have topped out Terrazul, a 22-story student housing development near Florida International University in Sweetwater. Upon completion, which is scheduled for the second quarter of 2024, the development will comprise 932 units and a total of 1,201 beds. Located along 107th Avenue, the property will also feature 647 parking spaces and 15,442 square feet of retail space. Amenities at Terrazul will include an indoor/outdoor study lounge, library and lounge areas, a gym and outdoor swimming pool. Units will feature private studio, one-, two- and four-bedroom layouts. Coastal Construction Group is the general contractor for the project, and Niles Bolton Associates is the architect.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Hoar Construction has broken ground on Icon, a 30-story student housing tower in the West Campus neighborhood by the University of Texas at Austin. The MDL Group is the developer for the project, which is slated for completion in summer 2025. Icon will house 555 beds across 216 units ranging from one- to five-bedroom layouts. Amenities will include a rooftop pool, fitness center, game and lounge rooms, podcast studio and student workspaces. The project will also feature four levels of below-ground parking. Once completed, Icon will be one of the tallest buildings in the surrounding area, according to the general contractor. The project marks the first partnership between Hoar and MDL Group, a New York-based developer, owner and operator of student housing communities. The project team also includes Rhode Partners as architect, DCI Engineers as structural engineer and Blum Engineering as the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineer. The student housing sector is outperforming other real estate verticals during challenging economic conditions, according to the latest national student housing report from Yardi Matrix. Rents increased 7 percent year-over-year in March to an average of $829 per bedroom, a record high. UT Austin has the highest bed count …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail
UC-San-Diego

SAN DIEGO — The University of California Board of Regents has approved plans to develop a new student center and 2,400-bed residence hall on the University of California San Diego campus. The two projects will cost $1.1 billion, according to reports by The San Diego Union Tribune. Construction on both developments is set to begin this summer.  The four-building student center, named Triton Center, is set for completion in 2026. One of the buildings will be home to the university’s student health, mental health and well-being services. This property will include an urgent care space; primary care, pharmacy and wellness services; and a new home for the university’s Counseling and Psychological Services department. Triton Center will also include an alumni and welcome center; a multi-purpose building with a 500-person event space; an art gallery; and a student academic resources building. The residence hall, Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Neighborhood, is scheduled to open in time for fall semester 2025 and will serve undergraduate students. The building will also include updated administrative and teaching space for the university’s Thurgood Marshall College, School of Global Policy and Strategy, and the Department of Economics in the School of Social Sciences.  Ridge Walk will …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

LUBBOCK, TEXAS — McGrath Real Estate Partners will develop The Saltus, a 234-unit, 736-bed student housing development located near the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock. The project is named after the city’s namesake, Thomas Saltus Lubbock, and will serve students at Texas Tech University. The project will offer nine different floor plans ranging in size from 559 to 2,025 square feet. Shared amenities will include a pool with cabanas, pickleball courts, grilling stations, dog park and an outdoor amphitheater. Completion is slated for fall 2025.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

COLUMBIA, S.C. — RREAF Holdings has acquired Rivers Edge at Carolina Stadium, a 486-bed student housing community located near the University of South Carolina in Columbia. The seller and sales price were not disclosed. The property was built in 1996 within the university’s Greek Village. Capital improvements are planned for the community, which will be overseen by RREAF Construction Services. Renovations are set to include upgrades to 40 percent of the property’s 240 units and amenity updates, including the addition of a dog run; upgrades to the existing basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts; and new lighting along the community’s walking paths. Renovations will be completed between late 2026 and early 2027.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

It is no secret that the student housing industry was impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Few groups felt that more accutely than colleges and universities. New on-campus development slowed dramatically as higher education institutions shifted their focus primarily to keeping classes in session while maintaining student safety. Moving out of the pandemic, new residence hall development has picked up once again — even accelerating past levels seen prior to the pandemic in certain markets. And the focus for many of these new projects is providing collaboration space and allowing for plenty of study room, while keeping costs at a minimum.  “When the pandemic started in spring 2020, public-private partnership (P3) activity slowed dramatically as universities and the private sector were forced to address the more immediate issues relating to distance learning implementation, newly enacted health and safety protocols, and mandated government shutdowns,” says James Wilhelm, executive vice president with American Campus Communities (ACC).  “However, by fall 2020, certain universities resumed their planning and procurement activities in an effort to position themselves to commence P3 project development in early 2022,” Wilhelm continues. “Since the fall of 2021, we’ve seen P3 planning and procurement activity steadily increase to more normal levels. …

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail

LOS ANGELES — Landmark Properties has announced plans to develop a student housing community near the University of Southern California (USC) campus in Los Angeles. Located at the corner of West 39th and South Figueroa streets, the property will offer 435 units in studio through five-bedroom configurations. The development will also include 87 affordably priced units, which will be reserved for students at the low-income level or below. Landmark is still in the planning phase for the project, which is expected to feature more than 1,500 beds. Shared amenities will include a clubhouse; rooftop resort-style swimming pool and grilling area; computer lab; fitness center; on-site parking; and 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Construction is set to begin by the end of 2023, with completion scheduled for fall 2026. Landmark Urban Construction will serve as general contractor for this project. Kevin Shannon, Ken White, Greg Galusha, Bryan Norcott, Ryan Lang, Jack Brett, Chris Benton and Anthony Muhlstein of Newmark, in collaboration with Eric Bergstrom at Bergstrom Capital Advisors, brokered the acquisition of the development site from Ventus Group for an undisclosed price.

FacebookTwitterLinkedinEmail