STUDENT HOUSING

BUSINESS
®

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019

2019
Top 25
OWNERS &
MANAGERS

PLUS:
MAKING MARKETING COUNT
THE INDUSTRY DRIVES TOWARDS MORE DATA
CAPITAL MARKETS UPDATE
WATCHING INSURANCE & PROPERTY TAXES
 HAPPY HOLI DAYS
We have so much to be thankful for this year! We want to send our
appreciation to our customers, clients, and colleagues.

ASS ETL IVI N G .CO M

 Students go to college
wants to make the
to find a sense of purpose. world a better place

We go to students
to find ours.

wants to make her

apartment a better place

Collaborative custom design process complemented by

advanced rendering and 3D layout capabilities and supported
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reorder, replacement or service requests

Experience the peace of mind that comes from partnering with

the industry leaders in student housing furniture. Contact us at
844.631.4927 or email info@universityfurnishings.com

Struggling asset?
Let’s talk.
Capstone Real Estate Investments was founded
to target a value-add niche within the student
housing space. This unique approach enables us
to place a higher value on underperforming assets
than traditional market valuations. As an internally
capitalized and vertically integrated company,
CREI can quickly evaluate properties of any type
and prepare aggressive offers for sellers. With
portfolio growth in mind, CREI is ready to invest in
opportunities across the US as we look to expand
our acquisition pipeline.
If you’re considering selling an asset
near a college or university, contact:
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jbaumhauer@creimail.com
205-949-3849
Who We Are
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FROM THE PUBLISHER
Sharing Data
Data about the off-campus student housing indus-
try is always characterized as very difficult to come
by. Every company in the industry has data of some
sort, and each has its own methodology and bench-
marks for creating, gathering and using their data.
And whether right or wrong, generally that data is
not shared with others.
What we find when we talk to owners and opera- Randall Shearin
tors is that they have internal benchmarking – they Editor
know what it costs them to operate an asset, build a
bed, or what their internal IRR for an investment should be in a given
market — but they have few external comparables available. What’s
the solution? That is not readily apparent. The industry is making
strides to collect and disseminate more data, but it takes time for people
to get comfortable with new ideas and sharing what has always been
viewed as proprietary information.
NMHC, in conjunction with some forward-thinking owners and
operators, is to be complimented for their initiative to increase data
sharing and transparency. Things are different with on-campus hous-
ing, both because many institutions of higher learning (particularly
state institutions) report a great deal of data and through the data
reported by the various ACUHO organizations via books, reports and
conferences.
Data has been on our mind because we spent much of this fall col-
lecting and analyzing it to bring you our annual Top 25 Owners and
Managers rankings, which appear in this issue. In tandem with that,
we also have an article on the off-campus housing industry’s progress
on data collection and dissemination. We hope you enjoy this issue and
that it gives you a lot of things to think about. As well, we wish you
happy holidays and a prosperous new year.
STUDENT HOUSING
BUSINESS
®
Volume 11, Issue 2 November/December 2019
publisher
Richard Kelley
(914) 468-0818
editor
Randall Shearin
(404) 832-8262
published by
France Media, Inc.
Jerrold France
rkelley@francemediainc.com randy@francemediainc.com Chairman and CEO
Scott France
media advisor
Tim Tolton
associate editor
Katie Sloan President
(404) 832-8262 Michael F. Jacobs
ksloan@francemediainc.com Chief Financial Officer
designers
Katie Sloan Jaime Lackey
Julie Hunt contributing writers VP, Marketing & Digital Strategy
Nick Topolski Lynn Peisner Randall Shearin
Amy Bigley Works
SVP, Editorial & Operations
dir. of audience development
Carol Spach
www.FranceMediaInc.com
www.StudentHousingBusiness.com
Student Housing Business (ISSN 2153-2915) is published 7 times per year with 6 being bi-monthly
and 1 in August by France Publications, Inc., d/b/a France Media, Inc. © 2019 France Publica-
tions, Inc. Editorial and advertising offices are located at Two Securities Centre, 3500 Piedmont Rd.,
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Student Housing Business is a trademark of France Publications, Inc. Subscription rates: USA 1 year:
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The opinions and statements made by authors, contributors and advertisers to Student Housing
Business are not necessarily those of the editors and publishers.
©2019 France Publications, Inc. To photocopy items from Student Housing Business in quantities of
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4 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com
Bring smarter access
to every door.
Learn more at latch.com/shb
IN THIS ISSUE

STUDENT HOUSING 50 Built For Success

Affordability and amenities that bolster student success are at the forefront as universities increasingly team up
BUSINESS
¨

with private developers on innovative projects across the country. DEPARTMENTS

NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
By Katie Sloan & COLUMNS
60 Strong Fundamentals Fuel Lending Climate
News in Brief 8
While some concerns about oversupply loom, low interest rates and demand are bolstering loan activity in the
2019 student housing sector.

Top 25 By Randall Shearin Campus Update 24

OWNERS & 68 Making Marketing Count Question of the Month 32

MANAGERS
Owners, operators and marketing experts weigh in on best practices for leasing and marketing.
Compiled by Katie Sloan SHB Interview
Donna Preiss
78 Construction Practices Adapt The Preiss Company 36
Building materials, designs and job site protocol are changing to meet a number of challenges, chief among
PLUS:
MAKING MARKETING COUNT
them a shrinking labor pool and the difficulties encountered on complex land assemblages. View from the Academe
THE INDUSTRY DRIVES TOWARDS MORE DATA By Lynn Peisner Von Stange
CAPITAL MARKETS UPDATE
WATCHING INSURANCE & PROPERTY TAXES
The University of Iowa 42
83 Driving Toward Data
The industry is making advancements — though there is still a long way to go — in how it collects, shares,
Company Profile
FEATURED STORY presents and interprets data.
Crow Holdings 47
By Lynn Peisner and Randall Shearin
98 Top 25 Owners & Managers
Student Opinion 120
Student Housing Business presents its 108 Special Advertising Section: Profiles in Architecture & Design Excellence
annual ranking of the industry’s owners Smarter Operations 123
118 College Students & Social Media
and managers. Twitter is back, Facebook fades and TikTok is making moves.
By The Black Sheep What’s On My Mind
Jason Schwartz,
Blue Vista Capital
Management 126

Cover design by Nick Topolski

6 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

THE
DICKSON
DIFFERENCE
The Industry Expert in
Student Housing Furniture

SATISFIED CLIENTS

SHORTER LEAD TIMES

RESPONSIVENESS
AWESOME PRODUCTS

WORRY-FREE DELIVERY

UNSURPASSED SERVICE
SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS

G E T TO K N O W M O R E AT D I C K S O N S T U D E N T H O U S I N G . CO M
NEWS IN BRIEF
RICHARD MARTINEZ PROMOTED TO SENIOR VICE
PRESIDENT, GRIFFIN COTTER TO LEAD STUDENT DIVISION
AT FREDDIE MAC
Chicago — Richard Martinez has been promoted
to senior vice president of all production and
sales at Freddie Mac. And Griffin Cotter, director
of production and sales, has been tapped to lead
the company’s student housing business in place
of Martinez. Cotter is part
of the central regional
management team, based
in Chicago, which origi-
nates more than $13 bil-
lion in multifamily loans
annually. “We are pleased
to announce that Grif-
Griffin Cotter, fin Cotter will be leading
Director of our student housing busi-
Production and ness,” says Richard Marti-
Sales, nez, senior vice president
Freddie Mac for production and sales
at Freddie Mac. “Griffin Richard Martinez,
brings to this role a stellar Senior Vice President
reputation for fostering strong relationships and of Production and
doing the hard work needed to understand the Sales,
intricacies of every deal. We know he’ll bring that Freddie Mac
same drive to student housing.”
GMH CAPITAL, AGC EQUITY ACQUIRE 428-BED COMMUNITY
NEAR WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
St. Louis — A joint venture between GMH Capital Partners and AGC Eq-
uity Partners has acquired Everly on the Loop, a 428-bed student housing
community serving students at Washington University in St. Louis. The
192,390-square-foot community offers one-, two- and three-bedroom units
with bed-to-bath parity. Amenities include a fitness center, yoga room,
game room, swimming pool and indoor and outdoor entertainment spac-
es. Chris Bancroft, Chris Epp and Meredith Wolff McGrath of FourPoint
Investment Sales Partners arranged the disposition on behalf of the sell-
ers, CRG and Koman Group. Terms of the transaction were undisclosed.
GREYSTAR HIRES MOREO RIVERA AS DIRECTOR OF
DEVELOPMENT FOR UNIVERSITY PARTNERSHIPS
Charleston, S.C. — Greystar has hired Moreo Ri-
vera as director of development for university
partnerships. In his new role, Rivera will work
with the Charleston-based firm’s university part-
nerships team to expand Greystar’s on-campus
development platform in the western region of the
U.S., with a focus on Southern California. Rivera
previously worked for Trinitas Ventures, where
he served as director of campus partnerships.
”As we continue to expand our on-campus hous-
ing platform across the western region, it’s criti-
cal for us to build the right team to advance our
strategic priorities and serve as a trusted partner
to academic institutions,” says Jared Everett, man-
aging director of university partnerships at Grey-
Moreo Rivera, star. “Moreo is a highly experienced development
Director of professional who has worked on marquee projects
Development for renowned universities including Rutgers and
for University the University of California, Berkeley. We have no
Partnerships, doubt his extensive skillsets and unique insights
Greystar will create tremendous value for both Greystar
and our university partners.”
8 November/December 2019
Automatic Lofts is located adjacent to the University of Illinois at Chicago
campus.
OC VENTURES ACQUIRES 482-BED COMMUNITY NEAR THE
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
Chicago — OC Ventures has acquired Automatic Lofts, a 482-bed student
housing community located adjacent to the University of Illinois at Chica-
go campus. The property — originally built as a telephone factory in 1901
— offers one-, three- and four-bedroom, loft-style units. Shared ameni-
ties include a fitness center, study lounges on each floor, a cafe, recreation
room and laundry services. The new ownership plans to implement capi-
tal improvements, which will include building out a larger fitness center;
renovating lobby and study areas; and updating unit furniture packages.
Varsity Campus will manage the community. The acquisition was bro-
kered by Newmark Knight Frank. The seller and terms of the transaction
were undisclosed.
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY BUYS 114-ROOM AMES BOSTON
HOTEL
Boston — Suffolk University has purchased the 114-room Ames Boston
Hotel, located in Financial District of the city, for $63 million. The histor-
ic property, located at 1 Court St., was originally built in 1893 and rede-
veloped in 2009. The university will rebrand the building as a student
housing facility called the One Court Street Residence Hall, which will
ultimately house approximately 280 students. The building will undergo
minor renovations, which are scheduled for completion in fall 2020. Ted
Wheatley and Robert Webster of JLL represented Suffolk University in the
transaction. Denny Meikleham, Alan Suzuki and Matthew Enright of JLL
represented the seller, Invesco Real Estate.
WALKER & DUNLOP PROVIDES REFINANCING FOR 1,300-
BED COMMUNITY NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA
Tuscaloosa, Ala. — Walker & Dunlop has provided a refinancing for The
Cottages at Lake Tamaha, a 1,300-bed student housing community located
near the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The financing was struc-
tured through Freddie Mac on behalf of the owner, Cardinal Group In-
vestments, and features five years of interest-only payments and a seven-
year loan term. Will Baker, Doug McDaniel and William Shell of Walker
& Dunlop provided the financing. Tim Bradley of TSB Capital Advisors
brokered the transaction. Further terms of the financing were undisclosed.
The Cottages at Tamaha offers two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom, cot-
tage-style units. Shared amenities include a functional private lake; cy-
ber cafe; clubhouse; game room; movie theater; tanning beds; an outdoor
grilling area; fitness center; swimming pool; indoor golf range and putting
green; and volleyball, basketball and tennis courts.
StudentHousingBusiness.com
 We get
deals done.
Whether you’re looking to sell, develop, finance or purchase a property, you
want smooth transactions and certainty of closing. We know how to get
deals done, and we have the numbers to prove it: $15.7 billion in total
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As the most active student
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ACC has what it takes to
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ACC can provide cost-
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Buy from ACC
We’ll consider the sale of
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ensure a simple, efficient
transaction for buyers.

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ALABAMA Tuscaloosa DELAWARE Newark FLORIDA Tampa GEORGIA Kennesaw Statesboro Athens Carrollton
IOWA Iowa City Ames KANSAS Manhattan Lawrence MICHIGAN Ann Arbor MISSISSIPPI Hattiesburg NORTH
CAROLINA Greensboro NEW YORK Manhattan Brooklyn Binghamton OKLAHOMA Norman TEXAS Corpus Christi
Lubbock San Marcos Huntsville College Station VIRGINIA Harrisonburg
NEWS IN BRIEF
NB PRIVATE CAPITAL ACQUIRES COMMUNITY NEAR THE
UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS FOR $32 MILLION
Memphis, Tenn. — NB Private Capital has acquired The Nine at Mem-
phis, a 385-bed student housing community located near the University
of Memphis in Tennessee, for $32 million. The acquisition was structured
as a DST offering for 1031 exchange investments. The seller was undis-
closed. The community offers two-, three- and four-bedroom units with
bed-to-bath parity. Shared amenities include a resort-style swimming pool
and spa deck; grilling stations and an outdoor bar area; a clubhouse; cof-
fee bar; state-of-the-art fitness center; yoga studio; gaming area with air
hockey, ping-pong and pool tables; a tanning bed; study and group project
room; and a computer lounge.

AMERICAN CAMPUS COMMUNITIES HIRES JASON TAYLOR

NB Private Capital recently acquired The Nine at Memphis, which offers
385 beds near the University of Memphis in Tennessee.
AS VICE PRESIDENT OF PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS
Austin, Texas — American Campus Communities
(ACC) has hired Jason Taylor as vice president
of public-private partnerships. In his new role,
Taylor’s responsibilities will include identifying
future university partners and development op-
portunities, and assisting university leaders in the
evaluation of facility financing and delivery op-
tions. Taylor previously served as managing direc-
tor of university partnerships at Greystar. “Jason’s
impressive track record, overall industry expertise
and service to universities across the country will Jason Taylor,
further strengthen our team as we continue to ex- Vice President
pand our public-private partnership efforts,” says of Public-Private
Noel Brinkman, senior vice president of public- Partnerships,
private partnerships at ACC. “We welcome him to American Campus
ACC and we look forward to his fresh perspective Communities
and contributions to the team.”

DMG INVESTMENTS NAMES JEFFREY AMENGUAL COO

New York City — DMG Investments has named
Jeffrey Amengual as its COO. In his new role,
Amengual will oversee all operations and lead
the company’s efforts to improve efficiency across
the New York City-based enterprise. Amengual
joined DMG Investments in 2017 and most re-
cently held the position of senior vice president.
Prior to joining DMG, Amengual worked as the
director of construction at Largo Investments. “We
are delighted and fortunate to have someone with
Jeffrey’s business acumen, expertise and deep in-
Jeffrey Amengual, stitutional knowledge take on this major and im-
COO, portant leadership role at DMG,” says Jacky He,
DMG Investments CEO of DMG Investments.

CAMPUS ADVANTAGE AWARDED MANAGEMENT OF 246-BED

COMMUNITY NEAR SAN DIEGO STATE
San Diego, Calif. — Campus Advantage has been awarded management
of Paseo Place, a 246-bed student housing community located near San
Diego State University in California. The property offers two-, three- and
four-bedroom, fully furnished units. Shared amenities include an out-
door courtyard with grilling stations and three restaurants located on the
ground floor. Catalyst — an Austin, Texas-based agency specializing in
integrated marketing for student and multifamily housing — will man-
age the property’s online reputation and digital online presence. The com-
pany will also establish an overall digital marketing strategy for the com-
munity.

12 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com


Go Team!
Nationwide Disaster Response Program
ACT is honored to serve student
housing owners and operators.
Thank you to those companies who
have chosen to partner with ACT. Our
team looks forward to working with
your team when ACT is called to
respond to an emergency — water, fire,
environmental, bio-hazard or storm.
And we look forward to partnering
with many more owners and
operators in the future.
For information about ACT contact:
Rob Sanderson | 316.734.6720
rsanderson@actcat.com
Putting Your World Back Together
www.actcat.com • 888.747.1515
NEWS IN BRIEF
The four-property portfolio recently acquired by The Scion Group and Hana
Financial Group includes The 9 at Gainesville, located near the University of
Florida.
SCION, HANA FINANCIAL GROUP ACQUIRE FOUR-PROPERTY
STUDENT HOUSING PORTFOLIO TOTALING 3,275 BEDS
Chicago — A joint venture between The Scion Group and Hana Financial
Group has acquired a four-property student housing portfolio totaling 3,275
beds. Acquisitions include:
• Cottages of Fort Collins, serving students at Colorado State University
• Cottages of Lubbock, located near Texas Tech University
• The 9 at Gainesville, serving students at the University of Florida
• Archive Oxford, located near the University of Mississippi
“Each one of these properties represents an asset at the flagship or second-
highest ranked university in its respective state,” says Clayton Merritt, vice
president of acquisitions for Scion. “We’re pleased with the plans for enroll-
ment growth at all these universities; it couldn’t be a better time to enter
these markets. These properties also all delivered in the last year or two.”
The transaction marks the first investment completed by the recently
formed joint venture between Scion and Hana Financial Group, one of the
largest financial institutions in South Korea. The transaction is Hana’s first
in the U.S. student housing market.
“The portfolio’s diversity makes it a great initial investment in the U.S.
student housing market,” said Avi Lewittes, Scion’s Chief Investment Offi-
cer. “The properties represent a nice mix of product types in four very strong
markets.”
For Scion, continuing to play a role in bringing new institutional invest-
ment into the student housing sector has been rewarding, says Lewittes.
“We’re pleased with our track record in attracting new capital into the
sector, from both domestic and off-shore investors,” says Lewittes. “Despite
several years of significant private institutional capital inflows into the U.S.
student housing industry, investors continue to be attracted to the sector’s
strong macro fundamentals and the opportunity to partner with best-in-
class operators.
”The portfolio was acquired from entities controlled by Kayne Ander-
son Real Estate for an undisclosed price. Scion and Hana were advised by
Saker Capital and Admiralty Asset, respectively, in connection with the
transaction.
CBRE ARRANGES SALE OF TWO ADJACENT COMMUNITIES
TOTALING 513 BEDS NEAR CLEMSON UNIVERSITY
Clemson, S.C. — CBRE has arranged the sale of Tiger Towne Village and Ti-
ger Towne Farmhouses, two adjacent student housing communities serving
students at Clemson University. The properties offer a total of 513 beds and
shared amenities including a 24-hour fitness center, study lounge, walking
trail, putting green, fire pit, bocce ball court and multiple hammock gar-
dens. Jaclyn Fitts, William Vonderfecht, Casey Schaefer, Parker Yates, David
Lansbury and Kevin Kempf of CBRE represented the undisclosed seller in
the transaction. Chain Bridge Capital acquired the communities for an un-
disclosed price.
14 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com
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THE GROVE AT FLAGSTAFF / NAU / 2012-13 / 776

THE VISTA / CSU, STANISLAUS / 2017 / 670

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 NEWS IN BRIEF
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND – BALTIMORE COUNTY TO
OFFER COMCAST’S XFINITY ON CAMPUS
Baltimore, Md. — The University of Maryland, Baltimore County is set to
offer Comcast’s Xfinity On Campus service to students. The service allows
students living on campus to watch live television and on-demand and
recorded content on their IP-enabled devices, including laptops, tablets
and smartphones. Students are also able to watch television off campus
through the Xfinity Stream application. Xfinity On Campus offers more
than 100 live channels including every major broadcast network, as well as
channels like AMC, Bravo, ESPN, FX and MTV.
SCION STUDENT COMMUNITIES ACQUIRES 502-BED
COMMUNITY NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Austin, Texas — Scion Student Communities — a joint venture between
the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), GIC and The Scion
Group — has acquired MUZE in Austin. The newly developed, 502-bed
community was designed by Rhode Partners and serves students attend-
ing the University of Texas at Austin. The property offers one-, two-, three-,
four- and five-bedroom units with shared amenities including a rooftop
pool, sky lounge and study and recreation spaces. A partnership between
Kayne Anderson Real Estate and Parallel sold the community for an un-
disclosed price. “We are thrilled to be adding MUZE to our joint venture’s
national portfolio of high-quality student housing communities,” says Rob
Bronstein, president of Scion. “We are particularly excited about expand-
ing our presence in the leading UT Austin market with another Class-A
property. We also continue to be very impressed by the quality and design
of Parallel’s developments and welcome the addition of another of their
properties onto our platform.
THE RESERVE
TRIAD REAL ESTATE PARTNERS & GREYSTONE | BEL’S FEATURED LISTING
16 November/December 2019
NB PRIVATE CAPITAL HIRES ALBERT THOMPSON AS SENIOR
VICE PRESIDENT
Aliso Viejo, Calif. — NB Private Capital has hired
Albert Thompson as senior vice president of na-
tional accounts. In his new role, Thompson will be
responsible for all aspects of growing and servicing
the firm’s participating sales partners. Prior to join-
ing NB Private Capital, Thompson held positions at
Hines Securities and Ascendant Capital. “Since our
reorganization in early 2018, NB Private Capital
has grown by more than $300 million in assets and
has raised close to $180 million in investor capital,”
says Jason Kjellson, senior vice president and na-
Albert Thompson, tional sales manager at the Aliso Viejo-based firm.
Senior Vice President “Albert is going to be pivotal in helping us tell our
of National Accounts, story of transparency and risk management. I could
NB Private Capital not be happier to have a professional of Albert’s cal-
iber join our rapidly growing team.”
STUDENT HOUSING
BUSINESS
®
Send your news items to Katie Sloan, Associate Editor,
at ksloan@francemediainc.com
584 BEDS | 216 UNITS
2014 CONSTRUCTION
92.3% OCCUPANCY
BEST IN CLASS ASSET
CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY
TRIADREPARTNERS.COM
StudentHousingBusiness.com
THE MARK AT TUCSON

FALL 2019: 9 PROJECTS DELIVERED.

$850 MILLION. ALL ON TIME.

THE STANDARD AT FLAGSTAFF THE STANDARD AUBURN

Landmark Properties is the nation’s largest developer and contractor

in student housing, vertically integrated, with $5.2 billion of assets
under management and more than 34,300 beds managed
between the company’s owned portfolio and third-party assets
managed by Landmark. LA ND M A R K P R O P ER T I ES . CO M
NEWS IN BRIEF
University Trails was recently acquired by a joint venture between TEXLA
Housing Partners and a private equity real estate fund advised by Crow
Holdings Capital.
JOINT VENTURE ACQUIRES 828-BED COMMUNITY NEAR
TEXAS A&M
College Station, Texas — A joint venture between TEXLA Housing Partners
and a private equity real estate fund advised by Crow Holdings Capital
has acquired University Trails. The 828-bed community offers one-, two-,
three- and four-bedroom units serving students at Texas A&M University
in College Station. Shared amenities include a resort-style swimming pool,
hot tub, sand volleyball court, basketball court, two state-of-the-art fitness
centers and a 24-hour study lounge and cafe. The joint venture plans to
renovate the community’s interior, exterior and office/club building. A
timeline for renovations was not announced.
GREYSTAR ACQUIRES 388-BED COMMUNITY IN CHICAGO’S
SOUTH LOOP NEIGHBORHOOD
Chicago — Greystar has acquired 30 East, a 388-bed student housing com-
munity located in Chicago’s South Loop neighborhood. Columbia Col-
lege Chicago holds a 10-year, 340-bed master lease at the community. The
remaining 48 beds are open to students at any of the more than 20 colleges
and universities located within two miles of the property. The 17-story
community offers studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units.
Shared amenities include a third-floor terrace and dog park, state-of-the-
art fitness center and a sky lounge. Terms of the acquisition and the seller
were undisclosed.
NORTHMARQ ARRANGES $20 MILLION REFINANCING OF
COMMUNITY NEAR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Carbondale, Ill. — NorthMarq Capital has arranged a $20 million Freddie
Mac loan for the refinancing of Aspen Court Apartments in Carbondale,
home of Southern Illinois University. The property is located at 1101 E.
Grand Ave., and offers one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units. Shared
amenities include a swimming pool, tanning facilities, a basketball court,
fitness center, computer lab and a picnic area. Jason Kinnison of North-
Marq arranged the 10-year loan, which features a 30-year amortization
schedule. The borrower was not disclosed.
LEE EQUITY PARTNERS ACQUIRES THE LIVING COMPANY/
UNIVERSITY FURNISHINGS
Dallas — Private equity firm Lee Equity Partners has acquired majority
ownership in The Living Company (TLC). TLC provides furniture, fix-
tures and equipment for off-campus student housing properties under the
brand University Furnishings, and for hospitality and workforce housing.
The Dallas-based company’s senior management team, led by CEO Paul
Dougan, will continue to lead the company and will retain equity owner-
18 November/December 2019
ship in the business. Previous equity investor, TZP
Group, will exit the business, while Platform Ven-
tures will retain an equity stake. Financial terms
of the transaction were not disclosed. “Since our
founding in 2003, TLC has been one of the fastest
growing and most successful asset-light logistics
providers of FF&E due to our longstanding indus-
try experience and commitment to high quality
custom solutions,” says Dougan. “Our national
scale and local knowledge allow us to reliably re-
duce supply chain complexity and provide project
Paul Dougan, completion certainty. With Lee Equity’s knowl-
CEO, edge and experience in the hospitality services in-
The Living Company/ dustry and asset-light real estate services, we look
University Furnishings forward to continuing to serve the student hous-
ing and hospitality industries and expanding into
additional markets.”
THE DINERSTEIN COS., HARRISON STREET ACQUIRE SIX
COMMUNITIES NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA,
BERKELEY
Berkeley, Calif. — A joint venture between The Dinerstein Cos. and Har-
rison Street has acquired six student housing communities located near
the University of California, Berkeley. The properties were purchased
from Equity Residential for an undisclosed price. Acquisitions include
The Berkeleyan, Renaissance Villas, ARTech, Touriel, Fine Arts and Gaia.
The properties have been rebranded The Sterling Berkeley Collection, and
renamed Sterling Addison, Sterling Allston, Sterling Haste, Sterling Jef-
ferson, Sterling Oxford and Sterling University Ave.
PEAK CAMPUS AWARDED MANAGEMENT OF 405-BED
DEVELOPMENT NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
Houston, Texas — Peak Campus has been awarded management of Tower
5040, a 405-bed student housing community currently under development
near the University of Houston. The project will offer studio, one-, two-
and four-bedroom, fully furnished units. Shared amenities will include a
resort-style swimming pool and hot tub; outdoor game and lounge areas;
a fire pit; outdoor grilling stations; study lounges; a business center; and a
fitness center. WGC Development is developing the community, which is
set to open in fall 2020.
Peak Campus was recently awarded management of Tower 5040, which
is currently under development near the University of Houston. The project
will offer studio, one-, two- and four-bedroom, fully furnished units.
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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NEWS IN BRIEF
CBRE ARRANGES SALE OF 900-BED COMMUNITY NEAR
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
Auburn, Ala. — CBRE has arranged the sale of The Connection at Auburn,
a 900-bed student housing community located near Auburn University.
The property is comprised of 13, three-story buildings offering two-,
three- and four-bedroom units. Shared amenities include a 24-hour fit-
ness center, resort-style swimming pools, a heated spa, game room, picnic
areas, a sand volleyball court, computer lounge, clubroom, private study
areas and a lighted basketball court. BCEG International Investment-US
purchased the community for an undisclosed price. Jaclyn Fitts, William
Vonderfecht, Casey Schaefer, Brett Kingman and Russ Oldham of CBRE
arranged the transaction on behalf of the undisclosed seller. Ben Roelke
and Ian Walker of CBRE Debt & Structured Finance secured acquisition
financing on behalf of the buyer. The 10-year, fixed rate loan was origi-
nated by CBRE through Freddie Mac’s Green Program and features a 3.66
percent interest rate and five years of interest-only payments.
XFINITY COMMUNITIES ACQUIRES EPPROACH
COMMUNICATIONS
Wilmington, N.C. — Xfinity Communities, the Comcast division serving
multifamily properties and residents, has acquired Epproach Communi-
cations. Wilmington-based Epproach specializes in multifamily technol-
ogy, including managed wi-fi and internet. “Property managers and own-
ers — particularly those in the off-campus student housing space — are
seeking box-less, managed internet solutions that more precisely meet the
needs of their residents,” says Michael Slovin, vice president of national
field sales at Comcast. “The Epproach acquisition earlier this year has al-
lowed us to expand our managed services offering to provide residents
with the constant connection they value and property managers with
greater control to make managing their communities easier than before.”
Marty Hollingsworth, former CEO of Epproach Communications, now
RECENTLY ACQUIRED
Tiger Towne Village and Tiger Towne Farmhouses
at
Clemson University
Tiger Towne Village and Tiger Towne Farmhouses are two adjacent
student housing communities with a total of 513 beds and 209 units.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT
Carl T. Olzawski Richard A. Hart
carl.olzawski@chainbridgecap.com richard.hart@chainbridgecap.com
www.chainbridgecap.com
(703) 634-5775
Diverse Experience | Balanced Solutions | Superior Execution
20 November/December 2019
The Connection at Auburn offers 900 beds near Auburn University in
Alabama. CBRE recently arranged the sale of the property.
serves as vice president of Xfinity Managed Services. “By partnering with
Xfinity Communities, property managers, owners and developers have
access to the robust offerings of its advanced communities network for
smart communities, internet, managed wi-fi and entertainment solutions
to meet – or even exceed – resident demand for the latest amenities,”
says Hollingsworth. Xfinity’s select wi-fi solution includes placing access
points throughout a property, providing the highest level Quality of Expe-
rience (QoE) through Xfinity’s advanced communities network and elimi-
nating the need for residents to have CPE in their units.
LANDMARK PROPERTIES ADDS 11 COMMUNITIES TO
MANAGEMENT PORTFOLIO TOTALING 5,400 BEDS
Athens, Ga. — Landmark Properties has been awarded management of 11
student housing communities totaling 5,400 beds. The Athens-based com-
pany’s new assignments are located in Tennessee, Oregon, South Caroli-
na, Florida, Louisiana, Connecticut and North Carolina. “As we continue
developing and managing our owned properties, we also remain keenly
focused on our third-party management business,” says James Whitley,
COO of Landmark Properties. “This allows us to bring our deep industry
and operational knowledge, as well as unsurpassed college living experi-
ences, to more student housing developments across the country.”
BRIAN THOMPSON LAUNCHES MARKER
INVESTMENTS
Philadelphia — Brian Thompson, formerly with
CA Ventures and Harrison Street, has launched
Marker Investments. Thompson will leverage his
nearly 20 years of experience in the student hous-
ing industry to lead the Marker Investments team,
which will specialize in the acquisition and man-
agement of off-campus student housing. “Having
worked for some of the most highly respected and
active developers, operators and equity investors
in the student housing sector, it was only a natu-
ral progression for me to apply everything that
I’ve learned to the creation of my own firm,” says
Thompson. “Student housing has tremendous
Brian Thompson, fundamentals and exceptional growth opportu-
Founder, nity. Marker Investments will change the way
Marker Investments people think about student housing.” Marker In-
vestments will be headquartered in Philadelphia,
with an additional location in Chicago.
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NEWS IN BRIEF
STUDENT HOUSING
PEBB CAPITAL SELLS 647-BED COMMUNITY NEAR THE
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
BUSINESS
® Lawrence, Kan. — Pebb Capital has sold The Rockland, a 647-bed student
housing community serving students at the University of Kansas in Law-
Send press releases to Associate Editor Katie Sloan rence. The community offers one- and two-bedroom units. Shared ame-
nities include a resort-style pool and hot tub; a 24-hour business center
at ksloan@francemediainc.com and fitness center; a common room with a gaming station and pool table;
tanning facilities; an outdoor barbecue area with a fire pit; a coffee bar;
indoor and outdoor basketball courts; and a dog park. NB Private Capital
acquired the property for an undisclosed price. Kevin Larimer and Greg
Gonzalez of Berkadia arranged the sale. Berkadia’s Ed Kim and Jie Lee
also arranged acquisition financing on behalf of buyer.

THE SCION GROUP LAUNCHES FOUR STUDENT HOUSING

COMMUNITY BRANDS
Chicago — The Scion Group has launched four new brands of student
housing communities designed to appeal to different student personali-
ties and price points. The newly unveiled brands, as described by Scion,
include:

• Alight: properties designed for residents who are focused on working

hard to achieve what they came to college to do.
• Lark: communities are focused on the right amount of support and
leisure.
• Redpoint: designed for students with an independent streak. Red-
point properties are about space, with a focus on creating resident
experiences that are open, inclusive and adventurous.
• Ion: The Ion brand is designed for students seeking a more exclusive
experience. These communities are geared toward residents who are
attuned to cultural developments and who seek a high-energy, cre-
ative environment.

“Students aren’t one-dimensional people, so their housing options

shouldn’t be one size fits all,” says Mitchell Smith, COO of Chicago-based
Scion. “We have taken a ‘one size fits none’ approach and created four
distinct brands. The brand experience is curated for the different person-
alities and lifestyle interests of the thousands of students we have gotten
to know. Scion is re-imagining what student living can be.”

LANDMARK ACQUIRES THREE PROPERTIES IN FLORIDA,

TEXAS TOTALING 1,130 BEDS
Athens, Ga. — Landmark Properties has acquired three student housing
communities located in Florida and Texas totaling 1,130 beds. Acquisi-
tions include The Nine at Rio, a 347-bed community, and The Nine at West
Campus, a 345-bed community, both located near the University of Texas
at Austin; and The Nine at Tallahassee, a 438-bed community located near
Florida State University. Terms of the transaction and the seller were un-
disclosed.

THE PREISS COMPANY SELLS THREE STUDENT HOUSING

C H I C AG O | L A FAY E T T E | I N D I A N A P O L I S
COMMUNITIES NEAR NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY
Raleigh, N.C. — The Preiss Company has sold three student housing com-
munities serving North Carolina State University in Raleigh. Dispositions
include University Village at 2505, a 288-bed community developed in
2012; Campus West at Tryon, a 162-bed community developed in 2014;
and The College Inn, a 440-bed community developed in 2004. Ryan Lang,
Brandon Buell and Jack Brett of Newmark Knight Frank represented the
seller in the transaction. Chicago-based Inland acquired the portfolio for
an undisclosed amount. University Village at 2505 offers four-bedroom,
fully furnished units with shared amenities including a clubhouse, 24-
hour fitness center, computer lab, study room and beach volleyball court.
Campus West at Tryon offers three-bedroom units with bed-to-bath parity
alongside shared amenities including a lounge area, outdoor grilling and
picnic space. The College Inn offers two-, three- and four-bedroom, fully
furnished units with shared amenities including a fitness center, swim-
ming pool, grill and patio area, a media and game room and an internet
cafe.

22 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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CAMPUS UPDATE
tive, one which will further strengthen the bond between WMU and the
greater Kalamazoo community while advancing WMU’s objectives for
student recruitment, advancement and success. We are honored to have
been selected by WMU and look forward to working collaboratively with
all stakeholders in making its vision a reality.”

The University of South Carolina

JOINT VENTURE BREAKS GROUND ON 486-BED
DEVELOPMENT NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH
CAROLINA
Columbia, S.C. — A joint venture between 908 Group and Scannell Prop-
erties has broken ground on The Nine at Columbia, a 486-bed student
housing community located near the University of South Carolina in Co-
lumbia. The community will consist of one, five-story building and six,
The Hilltop Village will include student housing, academic support spaces, two-story buildings offering townhomes. Shared amenities will include
office and research space, retail, entertainment, a hotel and conference a sauna, fitness center, swimming pool and spa, an outdoor barbecue
space, and multifamily housing. area and fire pits. The general contractor for the property is FaverGray
and the architect is Humphreys & Partners. The development is set for
Western Michigan University completion in summer 2021.
WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY SELECTS GILBANE
AS DEVELOPER OF ON-CAMPUS MIXED-USE DISTRICT The University of Washington
Kalamazoo, Mich. — Western Michigan University (WMU) has selected LANDMARK PROPERTIES BUYS LAND ASSEMBLAGE
Gilbane Development Co. as the developer of its planned on-campus IN SEATTLE, PLANS 1,600-BED STUDENT HOUSING
mixed-use district in Kalamazoo. The project — titled The Hilltop Village PROJECT
— will reimagine the southern portion of the university’s campus and Seattle — Landmark Properties has acquired an eight-parcel develop-
include student housing, academic support spaces, office and research ment site in Seattle’s University District. A group of undisclosed sellers
space, retail, entertainment, a hotel and conference space, and multifam- sold the fee-simple assemblage, which was rezoned for greater density
ily housing. Further details on the project and a timeline for development and taller buildings in 2017, for $39 million or $950 per-square-foot. Tim
have yet to be announced. “Gilbane looks forward to its partnership with McKay, Dan Chhan and Sam Wayne of Colliers International represented
Western Michigan University in delivering The Hilltop Village,” says the sellers in the disposition. Landmark Properties plans to begin con-
John Keegan, vice president of Gilbane. “This is a transformative initia- struction on two 25-story residential towers and one seven-story mid-
rise building in 2021. The project
will sit on a combination of 11 par-
The Marshall - Louisville, KY
cels of land, including the recently
purchased eight-parcel site. The
500,000-square-foot, 1,600-bed com-
munity will be named The Standard
at Seattle. The site is situated three
blocks from the University of Wash-
ington and half a block from the
future U District station of Sound
Transit’s Link Light Rail.

The University of Georgia

STRATUS DEVELOPMENT
Concentrated GROUP BREAKS GROUND
ON 286-BED COMMUNITY
focus. NEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF
Consistent GEORGIA
Athens, Ga. — Stratus Development
returns. Group has broken ground on The
Haven of Athens, a 286-bed stu-
dent housing community located
Building with one and a half miles from the Uni-
longevity in versity of Georgia’s main campus
in Athens. The development will
mind. offer two-, three-, four-, five- and
six-bedroom, cottage- and town-
home-style units with bed-to-bath
201.379.4038 parity. Shared amenities will in-
clude a resort-style swimming pool,
AptitudeRE.com study rooms, a fitness center, dog
park, hammock park, fire pit and
Investors@AptitudeRE.com covered parking. The development
is scheduled for completion in fall
2020.
The Marshall - Syracuse, NY The Pier - Conway, SC The Marshall - Fayetteville, AK

24 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

CBRE National Student Housing $4.6+
Having transacted $1.6 billion in sales and financing in the last 12 months, CBRE is the market leader and has the most comprehen-
sive understanding of student housing in the nation. BILLION
LAST 3 YEARS
12 MONTHS

22,928 8,4 41
LAST

beds units

AVAILABLE AVAILABLE AVAILABLE

For more
information,
Aspen Heights Auburn & Harrisonburg The Niche and The Nook The Outpost
VARIOUS UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
contact:

AVAILABLE AVAILABLE UNDER CONTRACT

Investment Sales
JACLYN FITTS
+1 214 979 6524
jaclyn.fitts@cbre.com

WILLIAM VONDERFECHT
Reno Student Housing Development Site Marcy Park West Village +1 214 979 6194
UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS
william.vonderfecht@cbre.com

UNDER CONTRACT UNDER CONTRACT UNDER CONTRACT CASEY SCHAEFER

+1 214 979 6364
casey.schaefer@cbre.com

Debt &
Structured Finance
Aspire Tucson University Edge Lighthouse BEN ROELKE
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, WILMINGTON
+1 214 979 5609
ben.roelke@cbre.com
FINANCED FINANCED SOLD
IAN WALKER
+1 214 979 6360
ian.walker@cbre.com

MIKE BRYANT
+1 214 979 5612
mike.bryant@cbre.com
University Trails The Republic The Warehouse
TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF NEVADA, RENO UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL
cbre.com/studenthousing
SOLD SOLD SOLD & FINANCED

Alloy Tiger Towne Village and Farmhouses The Connection at Auburn

UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CLEMSON UNIVERSITY AUBURN UNIVERSITY
 CAMPUS UPDATE
The University of North Carolina, Charlotte
FOUNTAIN RESIDENTIAL, BAM CAPITAL TO DEVELOP
PHASE I OF STUDENT HOUSING PROJECT NEAR UNC-
CHARLOTTE
Charlotte, N.C. — Fountain Residential and BAM Capital will develop the
first phase of a three-phase student housing project near the University
of North Carolina, Charlotte. Phase I of The Vue on University will com-
prise 271 apartment units offering one- through four-bedroom floor plans
totaling 727 beds. Communal amenities will include a swimming pool,
6,000-square-foot fitness center and multiple private study rooms. The
community will be located at the corner of University City Boulevard and
East Mallard Creek Church Road. Stuart Roosth Architects and Kimley-
Horn Associates designed The Vue on University. MW Builders Inc. is the
general contractor. Phase I is scheduled to open in fall 2021. Phase I of The Vue on University in Charlotte will comprise 271 apartment
units offering one- through four-bedroom floor plans totaling 727 beds.
The College of William & Mary
JOINT VENTURE TO BREAK GROUND ON MIXED-USE
COMMUNITY NEAR THE COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY Colorado State University
Williamsburg, Va. — A joint venture between Broad Street Realty, Bridger CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES ON 780-BED COMMUNITY
Corp. and Lamont Street Partners is set to break ground on a 240-unit NEAR COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY
mixed-use community located near The College of William & Mary. The Fort Collins, Colo. — Construction is underway on The Standard at Fort
community is part of the final phase of development for Midtown Row, Collins, a 780-bed community serving students and young professionals
an experience-based retail, residential and entertainment district located near Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The community is being
in Williamsburg. This phase of development will include the construc- developed by Landmark Properties, and is set for completion in fall 2020.
tion of four, five-story buildings featuring 56,000 square feet of retail, 6,000 The property will offer studio, one-, two-, three-, four- and five-bedroom
square feet of office space, 240 multifamily units targeting students and units. Shared amenities will include a rooftop swimming pool, coffee bar,
young professionals and a two-level parking garage. The multifamily study lounge, private study rooms, a 24-hour fitness center, clubhouse,
component will offer shared amenities including a swimming pool, two grilling spaces and outdoor courtyards. Katerra is serving as general con-
hot tubs, a grill area and a dog park. Completion of the project is sched- tractor for the project.
uled for summer 2021.

26 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

CAMPUS UPDATE
The University of California – Irvine
ACC, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – IRVINE OPEN
1,441-BED RESIDENTIAL TOWER
Irvine, Calif. — A public-private partnership between American Campus
Communities (ACC) and the University of California – Irvine has opened
Plaza Verde, a 1,441-bed, on-campus residential tower. The community
offers fully furnished units and shared amenities including state-of-the-
art fitness centers, multi-purpose rooms, outdoor pavilions, an academic
success center and group and private study spaces. The community was
built to achieve LEED Platinum status, and features an all-electric system
that eliminates the need for natural gas. “In addition to being a healthy
and dynamic student community, Plaza Verde is the greenest large-scale
student community that has been developed,” says Bill Bayless, CEO of
ACC. “We have gone to extensive lengths to ensure sustainability and
student-focused design are at the forefront, from initially designing and
testing systems for an efficient and comfortable community, then arrang-
ing a sizable offset for energy that will actually be achieved.”
Plaza Verde at the University of California - Irvine offers shared amenities
The University of South Carolina including state-of-the-art fitness centers, multi-purpose rooms, outdoor
P3 TO BREAK GROUND ON $210 MILLION LIVING- pavilions, an academic success center and group and private study
LEARNING COMMUNITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF spaces.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Columbia, S.C. — A public-private partnership between Greystar and the pus safety office, sundry store and coffee shop. Under the development
University of South Carolina (USC) is set to break ground on Campus agreement, Campus Village will be owned by the university and main-
Village. The multiphase redevelopment will be located on the current tained by Greystar under a management contract. Housing operations
site of Cliff Apartments at the northeast corner of Sumter and Whaley and student support will be managed and provided by the university.
Streets in Columbia. The partnership will begin construction on the $210 “The Campus Village project is especially close to my heart, as Greystar
million first phase of development in February 2020 with completion is headquartered just two hours down the road in Charleston, and we’re
scheduled for fall 2022. When complete, the living-learning community incredibly proud to partner with the University of South Carolina on an
will feature 1,800 beds, an academic support space, a dining hall, cam- innovative development that will positively impact generations of future
Gamecocks,” says Bob Faith, found-
er and CEO of Greystar. “Greystar’s
University Partnerships team is
working closely with USC to design

attitude
and develop this transformational
project, led by Senior Managing
Director Julie Skolnicki, along with
is our local development team led by
Managing Director Ben Liebetrau.”
e v e ry t h i n g .
The University of Illinois
OPUS COMPLETES
14-STORY STUDENT
HOUSING BUILDING
Champaign, Ill. — The Opus Group
has completed Seven07, a new stu-
dent housing community located
near the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign. The 14-story
building is home to 218 units with
vertically integrated asset management,
acquisitions, and property managment. 548 beds. Amenities include a fit-
ness center, indoor basketball court,
Discover a refreshing take spa, lounge, café and study areas.
The fourth-floor clubroom features
on student housing.
pin ball machines, shuffle board and
ping pong tables. The project was
a joint venture between Opus and
The Carlyle Group. Opus served as
developer, design-builder, architect
and structural engineer. Creative
License was the interior designer.
Asset Living will manage the prop-
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tate provided project financing.

28 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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ence and meeting areas. The project is scheduled for completion in fall
2020 and was designed by Shepley Bulfinch. CORE Construction is the
general contractor for the development.

Georgia Institute of Technology

The mixed-use community will offer 374 beds in private- and shared-
bedroom suites on the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus in
Mesa.
Arizona State University Polytechnic
CONSTRUCTION UNDERWAY ON 374-BED RESIDENCE
HALL AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY POLYTECHNIC
Mesa, Ariz. — Construction is underway on a 374-bed mixed-use com-
munity on the Arizona State University Polytechnic campus in Mesa. The
$34.2 million community is being developed by a public-private partner-
ship between the university, Capstone Development Partners and equity
partner Harrison Street. The development will offer private- and shared-
bedroom suites alongside shared amenities including a main floor lounge
and common kitchen; study space and lounges on each floor; and 8,500
square feet of academic space including classrooms, offices and confer-
CAMPUS REALTY ADVISORS BREAKS GROUND ON
532-BED COMMUNITY NEAR GEORGIA TECH
Atlanta — Campus Realty Advisors, in a joint venture with Realiance and
T2 Capital Management, has broken ground on a 532-bed student hous-
ing community located near Georgia Tech in Atlanta. The property — to
be named Catalyst — will offer 187 units with bed-to-bath parity. Shared
amenities will include a fitness center; multiple study rooms; club rooms
with collaboration and game areas; a STEM lab; a bike shop and storage
area; a sky deck with three courtyards, a swimming pool and grilling and
gathering areas; and 24-hour package delivery lockers. The development
is scheduled for completion in fall 2021. Realiance is an investment group
headquartered in Amsterdam, and T2 is a privately held real estate in-
vestment firm based in Wheaton, Illinois. Atlanta-based Campus Realty
will oversee the development and asset management of the property.
The University of South Carolina Upstate
DMG INVESTMENTS TO BREAK GROUND ON 480-BED
COMMUNITY
Spartanburg, S.C. — DMG Investments is set to break ground on Auden
Upstate, a 480-bed student housing community located near the Univer-
sity of South Carolina Upstate campus in Spartanburg. The $28 million
development will consist of seven, four-story buildings offering two-,
three- and five-bedroom units. Shared amenities will include a fitness
center, study room, resident lounge, gaming room and a swimming pool.
Construction is scheduled for completion in August 2020.

The University of California, Riverside

ACC STARTS CONSTRUCTION OF MIXED-USE
Your mind body and spirit DEVELOPMENT ON UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
RIVERSIDE CAMPUS
Riverside, Calif. — The University of California, Riverside (UCR) and
American Campus Communities have broken ground on North District,
are at ease a mixed-use community anchored by new student housing buildings. The
project will be situated on the university’s campus in Riverside, a city lo-
cated in the Inland Empire, about 60 miles east of Los Angeles. Upon full

when you use

build-out, the project will feature up to 6,000 new student housing beds,
new dining facilities, an NCAA Division I competition field, a field house
sports facility, functional open spaces, multi-use spaces that can serve
as classrooms, meeting spaces and study areas, and more than 100,000
square feet for retail, commercial and university services. The project, a
redevelopment of the former Canyon Crest Family Housing site, is part
of UCR’s vision for creating a “living-learning” campus, much like other
mixed-use developments seek a live-work-play environment. The uni-
versity projects enrollment will rise from approximately 24,000 students
today to 35,000 by 2035, necessitating the new student housing beds.

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

for your debt recovery CORE SPACES, KAYNE ANDERSON TO BREAK GROUND
ON 1,530-BED COMMUNITY
Blacksburg, Va. — A joint venture between Core Spaces and Kayne Ander-
son Real Estate is set to break ground on Hub on Campus Blacksburg, a
1,530-bed student housing community serving students at Virginia Tech.
Southern Management Systems Inc. The project will be delivered in two phases, with the first scheduled for
completion in fall 2021. The second phase of development is set to open
COLLECTION OF BAD DEBT in fall 2022. The community will feature shared amenities including a
resort-style swimming pool, fitness center, weight room, study lounges,
800-229-4531 walking paths and a 1,110-space parking garage. TSB Capital Advisors
consulted on the formation of the joint venture. TSB Realty arranged the
www.sms-collects.com sale of the development site to the new venture on behalf of the seller,
The Reliant Group.

30 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

PERFORMANCE!
PERFORMANCE!

Delivering on a Brand
Brand Promise
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When we launched YOUnion Student Living, we promised to create nationally branded student housing
properties and reimagine living spaces that build a strong sense of community and promote academic success.
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near the University of Michigan and the YOUnion@Columbia property near the University of South Carolina.
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John Strockis Paula Mathews Kyle Stiff

Chief Investment Officer Executive Vice President Acquisitions Director
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younion.com 949.542.4515 949.542.4535 949.276.2983 sam.com
YOUnion® and YOUnion Student Living® are registered trademarks of SmartStop Asset Management, LLC. Any unauthorized use of these trademarks is expressly prohibited.
QUESTION OF THE MONTH
Is the rumored wave of distressed assets coming in 2020 a reality, myth or
something in between? And if reality, what will be the impact on the industry?
I suppose it depends on how that distress is
defined — under-managed assets in stable markets
will continue to be sought after, while distressed
markets will likely continue to be largely avoided.
We’ve seen a good number of distressed deals
come to market both quietly and broadly already.
What we’ve seen little of, however, are distressed
sellers — or at least sellers willing to accept current
market pricing. Loan maturities may help narrow
Manson
the bid-ask gap as we head into 2020. If this mate-
rializes, experienced operators will be well posi-
tioned to take advantage of a basis reset and management upside.
— Troy Manson, Principal, University Partners
The answer to this question is nuanced. We are not
seeing a lot of properties that we would acquire
falling on lender watch lists or special servicer lists.
We are, however, seeing a lot of quality assets that
are under-performers in many of the markets that
we monitor. There were several acquisitions in the
last few years that were based on frothy growth
projections that were not tethered to reality. My
sense is that this will put tremendous pressure on Layton
several owners who struggle with operating assets.
Will their equity partners want to cut their losses when the returns
fall well short of what they were promised? My guess is yes, and that
will create buying opportunities in 2020. If you are a strong operator
and you have dedicated capital partners, you will be optimally posi-
tioned for the upcoming year.
— Andrew Layton, Chief Acquisition Officer, Student Quarters
Every real estate sector has some distress, but I
don’t think it’s a systematic or macro issue in stu-
dent housing in 2020. In specific markets where
too much supply came online or deals were over-
levered, we may see some signs of distress, but for
the most part the capital has more patience to stick
out a few down years versus giving the keys back
to a lender. Overall, while we expect to see some
signs of distress, we don’t anticipate a widespread
Bradley
issue in the coming year.
— Timothy Bradley, Founder of TSB Capital Advisors
and Principal of TSB Realty
32 November/December 2019
The wave of distressed assets coming in 2020 is a real-
ity and should serve as a wake-up call for developers
and lenders that it’s time to let off the gas on new
developments. Our markets can only absorb so much
before they reach the tipping point and I think we are
there in several Tier One markets. In the short term, I
anticipate there to be some buying opportunities, like
the ones we haven’t seen in the space since 2007. From
a more forward-looking perspective, I believe this will Phillips
move these same markets toward equilibrium.
— Roger Phillips, CEO, Texla Housing Partners
All of us in the student housing sector benefit from
some uniquely strong macro fundamentals which
generate beneficial tailwinds for us, even in later
stages of the current real estate cycle. That said, the
operational bar in student housing continues to rise,
as technology, scale, professional talent, capital access
and institutional sophistication become increasingly
critical success factors and heighten the stakes for us
all. Therefore, well-positioned players should experi-
Lewittes
ence continued success in 2020, while distress can
become more pronounced for those who have not
focused on building organizations for the longer term. With a continued
favorable capital markets environment, we would expect that distress
for some will create compelling opportunity for others.
—Avi Lewittes, Chief Investment Officer, The Scion Group
Vice President and COO, Campus Advantage
It’s a myth perpetrated by a misread of the CMBS
watchlist. It has been very challenging to find viable
value-add opportunities in student housing and many
opportunistic investors are basing their hope for a
wave of distressed assets on the high percentage of stu-
dent housing assets on the CMBS watchlist. The CMBS
student housing debt portfolio is not representative of
the sector and its watchlist should not be viewed as the
canary in the coal mine. There will be some distressed Larimer
assets available in 2020, but it should be viewed as
more of a ripple than a wave.
— Kevin Larimer, Senior Managing Director - Student Housing, Berkadia
StudentHousingBusiness.com
 QUESTION OF
THE MONTH

As of mid-Novem-
ber, there were
WHAT’S
NEXT
only 19 proper-
ties across the U.S.
that were either in
foreclosures, REO
or in payment
default. Through
November 2019,

IN STUDENT HOUSING
there were five spe- Fitts
cial servicer or lend-
er transactions. While I do not believe
there will be a ‘wave’ of distress, I do
believe we will see an increase from
2019 to 2020.

— Jaclyn Fitts, Director of Student Thank you to all our clients for a wonderful 2019. We are
Housing, CBRE
grateful to have earned your business and look forward to
being a part of your team in 2020. Cheers to a joyful holiday
Is the wave of dis-
tressed student season and prosperous New Year.
housing assets
going to be a tsuna-
mi in 2020? No, cer-
tainly not, but that 2020 LISTING PREVIEW
doesn’t mean we
shouldn’t be wary
COMING SOON COMING SOON COMING SOON
of the strengthen- Fowler
ing undertow we
have seen in 2019. We all know and
quote the countercyclical nature of stu-
dent housing to employment and that,
coupled with some legacy financings
that are maturing, does indeed expose THE GROVE THE ARCH AT ABILENE CRAWFORD EDGE & VARSITY CLUB
student housing to some adjustments Middle Tennessee State Univ. Abilene Christian University Clemson University
similar to what we saw with maturing 186 Units / 504 Beds 192 Units / 504 Beds 35 Units / 125 Beds
loans during the great financial crisis.
In addition, funds and other owners
with exit horizons in the next year will
endure the pinch of lender underwrit- Travis Prince Shawn Lubic Victoria Marks
ing changes and slowing occupancy Executive Managing Director Director Associate
and rental rate growth. Those who travis.prince@cushwake.com shawn.lubic@cushwake.com victoria.marks@cushwake.com
have been active in transacting on
the buy or sell side this year have
experienced pricing changes, lower
transaction volume and smaller buyer linkedin.com/company/CWStudentHousing
pools. Is this all bad news? No! Those
with discipline and sector expertise CRE_StudentMkts
can leverage that unique skillset and +1 813 204 5306
take advantage of the market condi-
tions for the long-run--just be aware
of the undertow!

—Nate Fowler, Founder and Principal,

Timberline Real Estate Ventures

StudentHousingBusiness.com 33
November/December 2019
tsbca.com
tsbrealty.com
In 2019, TSB Capital Advisors and TSB Realty
combined to work on $6 billion in closed student
housing transactions.

We would like to thank our growing list of clients and Sterling 920 Terrace
trusted partners for helping to make us the leaders in
student housing again this year.

The Nine @ Gainesville

Hub on Campus Orlando

The Retreat at Corvallis

The Standard at Atlanta The Hub at Minneapolis

THE SHB INTERVIEW
Real Estate Driven
The Preiss Company is passionate about real estate, specifically student housing. CEO and Founder
Donna Preiss imparts some history and wisdom on how that came to be, and why the company isn’t
S
slowing down.
Interview by Randall Shearin and Richard Kelley
Some people instantly fall in love with their jobs.
Donna Preiss, who started her career as a teacher,
knew when she began investing in rental houses
on the side in the 1980s that real estate was her
true calling. By starting small and thinking big,
she — and her dedicated team of employees —
have built The Preiss Company (TPCO) into the
6th largest owner of student housing in the coun-
try. TPCO was one of the pioneers of value-add
— acquiring properties that could be improved
through capital improvements, investment and
professional management. That strategy has
made Preiss a valued partner for a number of
capital players in the sector and allowed it to
broaden its approach into other types of invest-
ment as well as development.
SHB: What motivated you to get into the stu-
dent housing sector and how did The Preiss
Company come into existence?
Donna Preiss: The Preiss Company (TPCO)
began in 1987 as a vehicle for our family to
buy investment properties. Growing up, my
dad worked in investment properties, and I saw
firsthand how strong an investment real estate
could be. Real estate always has fascinated me.
In my youth, we lived in Alexandria, Virginia,
right outside Washington, D.C., and moved to
Maryland — the Preiss family lived in various
cities over the years, but we always wanted
to find a spot that we could call home. We
finally found that in Raleigh, North Carolina. I
was teaching school at the time and really just
wanted direct access to a database. I earned my
real estate license and started working — the
minute I got involved in real estate, I realized it
was my passion. Our first task as a company was
to purchase small investments like single-family
homes and small apartment complexes. Those
investments created the capital we would need
eventually to grow. We started with nothing and
created a real estate portfolio that has continued
to exceed our expectations many times over.
SHB: Were you one of those people that dis-
cussed real estate at the dinner table with your
parents growing up?
Preiss: Yes, absolutely. When TPCO first start-
ed, my father owned single-family homes. It
36 November/December 2019
was all interest-
ing to me because
I could see that he
bought proper-
ties where the rent
would cover the
mortgages, and the
properties would
increase in value.
We view the evolu-
tion of The Preiss
Company in two
parts — the first
part occurred when
we made early
DONNA PREISS
investments in
Founder and CEO,
properties like sin-
The Preiss Company
gle-family homes
and built good,
sound capital. The
second phase of
our company took place in the early 1990s when
we entered development. I became aware of
student housing in the late 1990s when a group
came to us with a few projects that they couldn’t
make work. Once we did our first student hous-
ing development project, we never looked back
and turned our full attention to the industry.
We quickly discovered that is where our talents
lie, and with demographics shifting, we found
student housing to be the right place for us to
be. It was a calculated move in terms of looking
at broad demand, but it also happened to be an
emerging sector that we really wanted to get
involved in, so it worked out well.
SHB: Tell us about those first few projects — it
seems you owe those groups who brought them
to you quite a lot for opening your eyes to stu-
dent housing.
Preiss: They were rewarded quite handsomely,
I assure you. The projects were raw land deals
in an area of Raleigh that was close to a con-
venience store where there was a lot of drug
activity then. We had to do some aggregating of
land, but we developed these parcels into con-
dominiums specifically targeting students. At
the time, the market was hot so we sought ways
to differentiate ourselves but focusing on what
our student residents wanted. We were the first
group to offer high-speed internet off campus.
Our plan became to build 70 to 100 condos a
year, lease them up and sell those leased condos
to investors. We built about 400 condominium
units in Raleigh and then moved to Clemson,
South Carolina, and started doing the same.
After building in Clemson, we decided that we
saw greater value in being long-term holders
— which is what our philosophy of real estate
always was — so we restructured our model,
expanding our management capabilities to keep
up with our investments.
SHB: Tell us about where you are today in the
market in terms of position and number of beds.
Preiss: This past year has been an incredibly
busy. We will complete more than $1 billion in
transactions. Historically for the past decade or
so, we have averaged around $500 million per
year; Doubling our investment activity created
its own challenges. We’ve changed our filter a lit-
tle bit, and we are looking ahead at the projected
2026 enrollment dip and have made the deter-
mination that the top 100 schools will not be
affected, so we’ve been focusing on those mar-
ketplaces. When assessing properties, we look
first at the university and whether it ranks as
one of the top 100 to 150 schools in the country.
Second, we evaluate the market. Is it simply a
college town? Or does the university sit in a mar-
ket where there is strong, diverse job growth?
Third, we consider the asset itself. As long as the
asset is at a risk-adjusted price, we are okay to go
out three or four miles from campus. We always
are interested in properties adjacent to campus,
but we’re not afraid of a little bit of distance if
the price has been adjusted accordingly. We cur-
rently are recapitalizing parts of our portfolio
that may not meet our normal metrics on paper.
However, if the project has proven successful in
the past, we feel comfortable carrying on, in part
due to our strong management operation
SHB: How do you evaluate your existing
portfolio?
Preiss: We strategically position the asset at the
point of purchase one of our company strengths.
At the point of purchase, we make three- to
eight-year forecasts on a property’s growth and
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THE SHB INTERVIEW
profitability. Based on cap rates and property per-
formance, we are not afraid to sell properties in as
short a time as 18 to 24 months. When we buy an
existing asset that we’re going to put money into,
we look at the property renovations in thirds.
We will do a deep dive on one third of the units
and call them premium units, we’ll maybe do a
few things to the middle third and leave the final
third alone. That creates nice positioning within
the asset so that when we get ready to sell, we can
still sell the property as value-add. We typically
don’t put a lot of capital into the property during
ownership. Once we’ve executed the initial reno-
vation plan, we don’t invest a lot of additional
capital during ownership
SHB: You mentioned that you will be completing
over $1 billion in transactions this year. Tell us
how you’re able to do that.
Preiss: We have a number of institutional inves-
tors with whom we partner, including a $750
million platform with one of the largest pension
funds in the country, and we’ve just renewed that
fund. We have built a very strong track record of
matching capital based on its risk-reward expec-
tations in assets, which is well regarded by insti-
tutional investors. When we find an asset, we
Locating Nationwide Investment Opportunities
in the Multifamily Residential & Student Housing Sectors
38 November/December 2019
know pretty quickly which of our partners will
have interest in investing. We do some devel-
opment as well. Typically, we always have at
least one on-going development project, and our
group often is asked to act in an advisory capac-
ity in the development and construction of non-
student-housing projects, as well.
SHB: That’s interesting that you are still involved
in development. How do you weigh those proj-
ects against all of your acquisitions?
Preiss: TPCO has a very robust acquisitions and
development team. We have nine folks whose
full job is to identify, underwrite and vet assets.
The bottom line is that we have thorough plans
that we execute well. On the development side,
we’re comfortable in the $35 million to $50 mil-
lion range. For projects in the $100 million level,
we typically will co-develop. For example, we
were shown a great project in Raleigh, but it was
going to be in excess of $100 million, so we part-
nered with Landmark Properties. We also have a
new project that we’re developing in Clemson by
ourselves.
SHB: The Preiss Company has been as active as
anyone in the sector this year when you look at
GENERAL INQUIRIES: info@dmg-investments.com
INVESTMENTS: arielhai@dmg-investments.com
DEVELOPMENT: jeffreyamengual@dmg-investments.com
number of acquisitions and dispositions. Why do
you feel now is a good time to acquire?
Preiss: Market fundamentals are very strong.
This year we have seen good rent growth.
Occupancies in the marketplace have backed off
25 basis points; interest rates are low; and proper-
ty performances are high. We saw a big bump in
net operating income. Capital must be invested,
and a lot of places in the world right now have
negative interest rates. The U.S. economy is still
probably the safest place to place capital. I would
argue that student housing is a relatively safe
place to put your money. If another recession
occurs, we have found more people go back to
school to better their career options. Multiple
studies have been done on the economic benefits
of a college education in terms of unemployment
and wage growth. We’re not afraid of some of
the markets that people tend to avoid. We’re not
in the Texas A&M market, but we’re looking at
properties there. It’s a selective university that is
growing at a good pace. If we can find an asset
that we think meets our criteria, we are not afraid
to invest.
SHB: What about the kinds of properties that you
are targeting for acquisition now. Are you much
StudentHousingBusiness.com
 Stadium Village Apartments CEV Morgantown
University of Minnesota West Virginia University
Development Site 280 units / 924 beds
MARKETING MARKETING

capital
13 Twenty-Four* Lakeside Student Living
Western Michigan University Mississippi State University
302 Units / 641 Beds 159 units / 504 beds
MARKETING UNDER AGREEMENT

marketsLEADER
OVER $12B
in student housing transactions since 2011

Your investment goals are our top priority. West 20 Development Site
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Aspen Heights Fayetteville* Missouri State Student

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205 units / 676 beds Missouri State University
CLOSED 353 beds
CLOSED
*Deal secured by Holliday Fenoglio Fowler LP or Holliday GP Corp. (“HFF”) prior to
being acquired by JLL on July 1, 2019. HFF is now part of JLL.
Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, Inc. (“JLL”), a licensed real estate broker.
Photo Credit: Aerial Associates, 13 Twenty-Four © 2019 Jones Lang LaSalle IP, Inc. All rights reserved.
THE SHB INTERVIEW
more comfortable buying a property that is core,
right beside campus? Or would you prefer to do
more value-add?
Preiss: We certainly love core deals. Markets with
selective schools, diverse economic drivers and
assets next to campus — like Raleigh, North
Carolina; Austin, Texas; and Atlanta — those
check all of our boxes. We don’t have a prob-
lem with value-add if the property is adjacent
to a selective university, and we’re paying an
increased cap rate. What we’re not interested in is
a really troubled property. There was a time that I
felt like we could fix any problem, but sometimes
that simply is not the case. There are so many
strong assets available with less risk. If we don’t
think we can get higher than three percent rent
growth in a market, we will move on. In markets
that we feel strongly about, we’re not afraid to
predict 6 to 9 percent rent growth.
SHB: Where do you think the industry is right
now? Investment activity is down in 2019 from
2018 although we’ll have to see where the num-
bers play out at the end of the year. Why do you
think that is and what is your forecast for 2020?
Preiss: The companies who are very active in the
investment community right now are taking a
global approach with student housing in the U.S.
We work with Middle Eastern and Asian inves-
tors and have spent a lot of time with these part-
ners. That has given us an idea of how money is
flowing throughout the world. Speaking to devel-
opers about their local markets, we find they
often can’t see the forest for the trees. Too often,
we’ll hear, ‘it’s overbuilt, we’re overpriced.’ I
believe sometimes they are too close to their
market to see the big picture. When you look at
the top 10 transactions this past year, you’ll find
that they make equal use of domestic and inter-
national capital. This tells us that it is important
to take the time to understand the needs of inter-
national capital. It changes the way you look at
real estate. For example, while some international
investors might not understand the complexities
of the seniors housing sector because those kinds
of properties largely don’t exist in their native
country, they all understand the need for student
housing. The one thing the U.S. does better than
anyone else in the world is higher education, and
it is not something that can be outsourced.
SHB: There seem to be more rumblings about
properties that are in trouble or properties that
are on the CMBS watch list. In your opinion, are
these isolated examples of projects that have gone
awry in challenging markets? Or is it potentially
a bigger issue that the industry should be con-
cerned with on a larger scale?
Preiss: Fundamentals, liquidity and competence
make a good market. If seemingly out of nowhere,
folks start deciding that a market is having issues,
competence can decrease and people can grow
40 November/December 2019
less resilient. When I see projects that are in trou-
ble, it typically is because the community wasn’t
correctly capitalized originally. I have only lost
money on two real estate investments, and both
were due to bad capital stacks. That is a big lesson
that I have learned. What are your thoughts?
SHB: We think it’s mostly isolated — there are
properties with high assumptions or properties
that weren’t capitalized properly. We think the
problem is the competence issue. You said some-
thing telling a few minutes ago when you men-
tioned that a market needs good fundamentals,
liquidity and competence. We’ve started to feel
a bit more of a shaking of confidence in the
industry overall. That can be dangerous and con-
tagious. This industry has had a lot of positive
momentum for many years and we don’t want
to lose it.
Preiss: I think an answer to that is to throttle back
on your leverage. If you’re having some concerns,
increase your equity. It can have a negative effect
on your IRR, and typically that is how you attract
equity partners, but long-term, the more equity in
the deal, the more options you have.
SHB: You mentioned that The Preiss Company
is known to be a pretty innovative owner and
operator — you’re not afraid to increase rents.
How do you improve NOI?
Preiss: Over the past seven years, our average
NOI growth has been 5 percent, where our rent
growth has been closer to 3 percent. Ancillary
income makes up that difference. We started
charging for water several years ago, and we
have found no market resistance to that. One
of the good things about new development has
been that a lot of the new, core development have
passed utilities onto tenants. We also charge a
technology fee because we create a managed wifi
system, which provides a much better product
for students that does not require them to go out
and buy their own routers, a win-win for resi-
dents and the owner. Creating diversity in prod-
uct also is important. In a property offering two-,
three- and four-bedroom units, we’re going to
have nine products we can sell using our method
of implementing renovations in thirds that we
discussed earlier, where one third of the units
are premium, one third of the units are slightly
modified and one third have been left alone after
acquisition. That gives us more leverage where
we can look at the speed of leasing and raise or
lower prices as we see fit. We invest a lot of time
into our team members, as well. We pay our folks
well and have multiple retreats and conferences
a year. If you’re a star performer, you’re going to
do incredibly well with us. Those sorts of items
really help to increase NOI.
SHB: You have a senior management team with a
lot of depth in the industry, many of whom have
been with you for a long time. Can you tell us
about them?
Preiss: John Preiss, as chief investment officer
and Susan Folckemer, as chief development offi-
cer, work together to source, underwrite and
assemble the capital stack for all acquisitions and
development projects. Adam Byrley, as chief
operating officer, handles all property manage-
ment operations as well as any new company
initiatives. Chad West is the chief financial officer
and handles closings as well as all company bud-
get setting and tracking.
SHB: You and your firm are unique because
you’re a woman-led business. Would you like to
talk about how that separates you from the pack
in the student housing world? Has that ever been
an issue?
Preiss: Who would guess that a female-owned
company based in Raleigh, North Carolina —
which is not a major metropolis close to capital
— would be successful in the student housing
sector? It’s a very positive thing. I’ve never felt
that my gender has held me back — particularly
with a large portion of our investors coming from
Asia, where many of the heads of capital sources
are women. It might have been a bit of an issue in
the beginning, but we were one of the first adapt-
ers to the student housing space. There are a lot
of newer, shinier players that have come in and
received more attention. I would have loved to
have grown faster, but we were forced to bide our
time and move more slowly, and it has benefitted
us because we were able to grow strong as an
organization. We have created a scalable model
with a lot of experience. We’re ready for more
prime time.
SHB: Is there anything you’d like to get out about
The Preiss Company?
Preiss: At the end of the day, one of the big things
that has made us successful is our culture. We
have made a real investment in culture, and we
have seen the benefits of it through our retention
rates and an overall enjoyable working environ-
ment. I can’t stress the importance of that enough.
One of my favorite quotes is, ‘culture eats status
for breakfast every time.’ No matter how smart
your folks are and how well capitalized you are,
if the culture is not right, you will not last. SHB
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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VIEW FROM THE ACADEME
Dual Perspective
Overseeing housing at the University of Iowa and being president-elect of ACUHO-I gives Von Stange
the unique perspective of looking at housing trends both on his campus and worldwide.
R
Interview by Richard Kelley and Katie Sloan
Running housing and dining at a Big Ten uni-
versity is a full-time job and the University of
Iowa’s Von Stange certainly has his hands full
housing over 6,300 students across an array of
residence halls. And if he wasn’t busy enough,
Stange is also the president-elect at ACUHO-I,
where he helps the association serve it diverse
array of member schools and leads projects and
initiatives that touch on many of the topical
issues of the day when it comes to on-campus
housing.
Student Housing Business recently visited with
Stange to get his thoughts on what he sees first-
hand at Iowa, as well as the perspective he has
gained through his work with ACUHO-I.
SHB: Can you tell us about on-campus hous-
ing at the University of Iowa. How many
students live on-campus and do you have a
live-on requirement?
Von Stange: Our occupancy has varied a bit
depending on class size over the last few
years, but this fall we have a little over 6,300
students living in our residence halls. The
majority of those students are first-year, but
we do not have a live-on requirement. We
annually house about 94 percent of the first
year class. We have 10 residence halls, and
our oldest opened in 1913. The newest opened
in 2017. The bulk of our residence halls were
built during the 1950s and 1960s when our
campus tripled in size. We have constructed
two buildings totaling 1,550 beds since 2015,
but we also try to reinvest in our other build-
ings as well. We do this so that we don’t inad-
vertently create an experience of haves versus
have-nots. We avoid that by making repairs
and renovations to all of our buildings to
ensure that they’re contemporary and meet-
ing student needs. We’ve done dining hall
remodels, and updated finishes. Our big push
right now is to convert a lot of our traditional
community-style bathrooms to single-user
restrooms. We’re between 60 and 70 percent
complete in that area.
SHB: Tell us for a minute about the residence
hall that dates back to 1913. That’s a long time
ago! How is that building still functioning?
42 November/December 2019
Stange: It’s a gor-
geous building
— I’m looking at
it from my win-
dow right now. It
was built in 1913,
but had additions
in 1927, 1939 and
1950, so it went
from a small build-
ing to a larger
VON STANGE
building. It houses
Assistant Vice President
about 630 students.
for Student Life and
Like any building
Senior Director of
built during that
University Housing &
era, the rooms are
Dining,
not cookie cut-
The University of Iowa
ter. Each room has
it’s own square
footage size. We’ve put a lot of effort into
upgrading the building — we’ve added study
and lounge space with high-speed internet
throughout. It’s a space we’re very proud of.
SHB: It sounds like you have a varied range
of housing stock. Would you say most of your
residence halls are traditional in style?
Stange: Most of our housing is going to be
traditional, double-loaded corridors. We offer
mostly double-occupancy rooms with a few
singles. Our residence hall that was built in
1913 actually has quite a few single-occupancy
rooms. A few of our buildings that were built
in the 1950s were designed to offer double-
and triple-occupancy rooms. More recently,
we’ve transitioned those buildings to now
single- and double-occupancy rooms instead.
We have about 1,100 suite-style beds with
two double rooms that share a bathroom and
kitchenette, and then we have 100 beds that
are two double rooms that share a bathroom.
SHB: Do you have any new housing projects
that are being built or are in the planning
stages?
Stange: At this point, we don’t have plans for
anything new. We’re in the sweet spot now
where our facilities are in good shape and
they have very little vacancy while also not
being overfilled. We’re now trying to attract
more returning students to consider living in
the residence halls. We’ve had about 200 more
students over the last two years return to the
residence halls than in previous years.
SHB: Of the newer housing projects that you
mentioned, were any of these built in partner-
ship with a private developer? Or were they
funded out of your own credit capacity at the
university?
Stange: The university has financed all of our
recent projects through bonding. In 2013, we
discontinued family housing that we offered
because it was a 1960s-era building that need-
ed repair. We knew if we had to fix them, it
would essentially be a case of putting lipstick
on a pig. We entered into a public-private
partnership for this portion of the university
grounds and have a ground-lease there for
graduate student apartments. There are 800
students in these apartments. The project is
exclusive to graduate students, students with
families, and sometimes faculty.
SHB: Who is your partner on that?
Stange: Balfour Beatty financed, constructed
and managed the project through a competi-
tive RFP process. Now in its sixth year, the
property was recently acquired by Axium
Infrastructure. Balfour Beatty continues to
manage the property.
SHB: So you house around 6,300 students and
your total enrollment is around 25,000?
Stange: We have about 23,000 undergraduate
students and about 9,000 graduate students.
SHB: You must have a fairly robust off-cam-
pus housing market to house students not
residing in university housing. How does the
pricing for your residence halls compare to
the off-campus market?
Stange: It’s hard to say. Students can find a
place to live off-campus that is more or less
expensive than our on-campus options. We
really don’t compare ourselves to the off-cam-
pus market. We tend to follow the trends for
rate increases at our peer institutions rather
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VIEW FROM THE ACADEME
than the off-campus market, because the resi-
dence hall environment is not simply a place
to sleep, it really is a learning environment.
We’re generally going to capture our first year
students and we want to make sure we com-
pare ourselves to what other Big 10 schools are
offering.
SHB: Do you keep pricing uniform across all of
your different housing options?
Stange: We try to keep things pretty consistent.
Our rates are based on room type and capac-
ity. Our newest buildings cost a little bit more
due to the higher cost of construction. We
know our students are cost-conscious — some
more so than others — and they’re looking
for the option that best fits their budget. I will
say, however, that while students are cost-con-
scious, our newest residence halls are always
the first to fill up.
SHB: Taking a look at all of your housing stock,
what are students looking for in on-campus
housing today?
Stange: We’ve seen some changes over the last
few years. Our population is becoming more
diverse, Generation Z is entering campus —
there are many students who are most con-
cerned about the value offered by their housing
arrangement. Students aren’t looking for a lot
of high-cost amenities anymore. Our students
want to experience living with a roommate
and, in many instances, that is most impor-
tant to them. Our goal is to move the students
towards independence in a setting where there
are plenty of safety nets for them, should they
need assistance. I think there is still the impres-
sion that students want their roommates to be
their best friend or that they want to find their
soulmate while they are in college. After a year
or two, the need for privacy begins to outweigh
the desire for a roommate, which is interesting.
My daughter is a senior in high school right
now and we have been doing the college tour
circuit. Residence hall impressions are a major
consideration in her decision of where to go to
college, and that’s not just because of my job.
SHB: Housing is becoming increasingly impor-
tant to students and that has led to a bit of an
arms race on-campus to build new housing.
Stange: Residence halls are an asset for institu-
tions and we have tried to stay contemporary.
SHB: It seems as though today’s student is
more academically focused than they were 10
or 20 years ago. Are there items that you are
changing in the housing department to follow
that trend?
Stange: Student success is always the goal. We
want to provide them with an experience that
44 November/December 2019
is going to help them be successful in and out-
side of the classroom. We have really focused
on student study spaces and creating areas for
small group or private study. We’ve found that
many students prefer to study outside of their
bedroom, so it’s important to provide plenty
of areas geared towards this type of activity.
Privacy is also important to students and that
has played a part in our push to make all of our
restrooms single-user. All of our renovations
occur exclusively during the summer, so we
have a 10-week window to finish all work. We
cannot completely renovate an entire 12-story
building of bathrooms over the course of one
summer; we have to work on these projects in
phases — four floors each year. The first year
that we worked on transitioning the bathrooms
to single-use in one of our high-rise buildings,
we found that students were coming from
other floors to use the single-use restrooms on
our top four floors. That was a good indicator
that we were on the right track with this reno-
vation trend.
SHB: Let me ask you something else that has
become a vexing problem for both on- and off-
campus housing providers — packages. What
are your strategies for dealing with packages at
your residence halls?
Stange: We have a front desk in every one of
our buildings and they receive the packages.
We have a process by which students receive
an email or a slip in their mailbox that says they
have a package. Students then come down to
the lobby and retrieve them. The quantity of
packages coming in has increased each year.
Our desk operations do a pretty good job. We
have a very limited loss of packages. I would
say that if we lost five packages a year that
would be a high number. I think students like
being able to pick up their packages without
leaving the building.
SHB: How closely do you follow the off-cam-
pus housing market in your role? Do you work
with any off-campus housing providers?
Stange: We have in the past. Between 2010 and
2016, we saw a pretty significant increase in our
first year class size and we were trying to be
able to respond to that. In order to make that
happen, we started leasing some apartments
off-campus. At its height, we had six apartment
complexes that we leased for a short amount of
time. Our goal was to put our second year stu-
dents in apartment-style living because it was
a good transition for them. It also created more
residence hall space for our first year students.
That said, we are not in any partnerships right
now. I think our biggest concern is that there
continues to be new housing construction in
Iowa City even though the university has said
that we are going to manage our enrollment.
We’re already seeing more vacancies within
the city, which has really ramped up the desire
from the off-campus landlords to get to our
students. Our students are being pushed to
sign leases six weeks into the school year off-
campus, and frankly, I think that’s pretty early.
SHB: The leasing season continues to move
up earlier and earlier. I think it is driven by
markets that are seeing more development. It’s
interesting that you’re seeing that in Iowa City.
Are there graduate students that you think will
be candidates for the new off-campus proper-
ties or are these developers fighting for a finite
group of undergraduates?
Stange: I think there are a finite number of
undergraduates and they have differing needs.
We have affluent students who will take the
high-end apartments that were built. The closer
you get to campus, the more expensive it will
be. The cost of living in Iowa City is higher
than most cities in Iowa, so many of our career
service staff don’t live in Iowa City because
they can’t afford to live here. Our on-campus
vacancy rate was under 2 percent, so now that
the off-campus developers have built more, our
vacancy rate is going to be higher and force
the off-campus market to respond with lower
rates. I have seen more ‘for rent’ signs this fall
than I have in previous years.
SHB: What big picture trends do you see
when it comes to on-campus housing? You
are uniquely positioned to speak to this due to
your work with ACUHO-I.
Stange: The student population is continuing
to evolve and diversify. I think we are going
to start seeing institutions take more inten-
tional steps to figure out how different learning
environments impact students from different
subgroups. One of the things that ACUHO-I
is doing is partnering with NSSE, the National
Study of Student Engagement, to ask the ques-
tion, ‘what is the impact of residence halls on
the students that live there?’ This is a three-year
study that we have been working on. We have
found that first year students living on-campus
have higher rates of persistence than their off
campus peers; they have greater engagement
in learning activities; higher feelings of belong-
ing and safety; and they feel that their living
situation has a more positive impact on their
academic experience. Those numbers are even
higher for students in academically based, liv-
ing-learning communities.
SHB: Do you have living-learning communi-
ties at Iowa?
Stange: We have a number of living-learning
communities at the university — some are aca-
demically-based and some are identity-based.
A few examples are women in science and
engineering; we have an arts living-learning
StudentHousingBusiness.com

community; we offer a program called young,
gifted and black for students who want to
learn more about what it’s like to be black in a
historically white institution. We also have an
LGBTQ community and next fall we will be
starting a community for Latinx students.
SHB: Do each of these groups have their own
building?
Stange: It’s typically a floor or two within a
building. We average 42 students per floor of
each residence hall. We are trying to right-size
them to make sure that we have the right num-
bers so that each community can be completely
full with those students so that they can engage
and be successful.
SHB: Going back to ACUHO-I, tell us a bit
about your position and how you’ve grown up
through that organization.
Stange: ACUHO-I is a professional organiza-
tion that operates on a volunteer basis. Early in
my career, I served on ACUHO-I’s placement
committee at a time when you actually had
to mail your resume in — before e-mail. After
that, I became a reviewer for our professional
StudentHousingBusiness.com
VIEW FROM THE ACADEME
journal and eventually became the editor of
our journal of college and university housing.
I did that for four years and from there ran
for an executive board position — knowledge
enhancement director. That position supports
the various knowledge resources of the asso-
ciation, so things like research, public policy
professional publications and programs at the
annual conference. That was a three-year term,
and at the end I decided to put my hat in for
president and was honored to be elected. It’s a
three year term — in 2018 I served as vice presi-
dent, in 2019 I assumed the president-elect role,
and in 2020 I will be president.
SHB: Do your ACUHO-I responsibilities take
up a lot of your time?
Stange: It takes up a good amount of time, but
it has been structured very well. We have a
great home office with a number of profession-
als and, together, many hands make for light
work. ACUHO-I has monthly executive board
meetings and committee meetings. It’s exciting
to be able to do this and I have a lot of support
from the people who work for me and from my
boss, who supports me and allows me to take
advantage of this great opportunity.
OUR SERVICES
SHB: One of the interesting issues within
ACUHO-I over the last four or five years has
been the public-private partnership trend.
More and more schools are looking at P3s as
an option for getting new residence halls built.
Can you elaborate on your feelings about P3s at
Iowa? Is that something you would ever look
to? Or is the university’s financial position such
that you don’t have that need? And from the
ACUHO-I standpoint, as you look out on the
landscape across the country, why do you think
P3s are becoming more common?
Stange: Outside of our graduate housing, we
don’t have any P3s. I think whether or not a
public-private partnership works depends on
each individual institution. I have been to a
number of programs at ACUHO-I and have
heard from those who work in public-private
partnerships, and their mantra is, ‘if you’ve
seen one P3 arrangement, you’ve seen one P3
arrangement.’ As you can imagine, there are a
variety of options out there. ACUHO-I doesn’t
see P3 arrangements as good or bad. Rather,
we view our role as providing education to our
members about the P3 process, so that each
institution’s leadership can determine whether
this could be a good fit for them, and if so, to be
November/December 2019 45
 VIEW FROM THE ACADEME

well-informed and have a seat at the table. Our professionals have a

remarkable depth of knowledge and expertise that will only inform
and enhance this process, and we want to position them to meaning-
fully contribute.

SHB: Are there any new initiatives at ACUHO-I that you would like
to share with our audience?

Stange: I’ve talked a bit about our sponsored research project, but
we’re also always talking about the issues of mental health of stu-
dents and work-life balance for our live-in staff. The live-in staff is the
lifeblood of our student success efforts because they are our front-line
contributors. We’re also nearing the end of our current strategic plan,
so we’re beginning the process of creating our new one, which will
take effect in 2021. Our current strategic plan is built on four pillars:
education, knowledge resources, influential leadership and advocacy,
and community. One of the things I’m particularly interested in is
working with our small college members of ACUHO-I — almost half
of our institutional members are at schools with 1,500 beds or fewer.
Those are systems that can greatly benefit from the resources that
ACUHO-I provides. As the president, I want to make sure that we’re
ACTIVELY INVESTING listening to what the housing officers from those small schools are
seeing and what they need. We want to be sure that we are intention-

IN STUDENT HOUSING
ally connecting our resources with those needs.

2019 MARKET ACTIVITY
61 Assets | $3.1 Billion
Since 2006, we have acquired or developed
$12.3 billion in student housing properties on or near
154 universities. As one of the largest owners of
student housing, we have executed on-campus
and off-campus strategies across the risk-return
spectrum and continue to innovate and actively
seek opportunities in the sector.
SHB: We have a lot of readers who are owners and operators of off-
campus student housing. Is there a message you would like to convey
to them about how they should think of you and your peers in on-
campus housing?
Stange: There are certainly opportunities for partnership in those
areas, and because we have institutions in cities of a million people
and institutions in cities of 500 people, the needs of each of those
areas are going to be quite distinct. We know there is a need for an
off-campus market, because institutions cannot always accommodate
the full population of students in campus housing facilities. We’re
not looking to be a residence hall system with 25,000 beds. Certainly
there are some small, private institutions that have four year live-on
requirements that can do that, but most large, public schools aren’t
going to have that ability. We also know there’s a market for off-cam-
pus housing. We know students go through a process of increased
independence that we can accommodate by providing different living
options, but that ultimately, they’re going to have to learn to budget
on a monthly basis and work with neighbors without having an RA
there. At the end of the day, we want to make sure that our off campus
partners are providing places for students to live where they are safe
and secure.

SHB: When you’re not running the University of Iowa’s housing pro-
gram or performing your ACUHO-I duties, what do you do outside
of work?

Stange: I spend a lot of time with work between ACUHO-I and my

job, but I commit myself to playing basketball a few times a week to
de-stress. My department has a softball team so we build community
outside of work. I am an avid Minnesota Twins baseball fan, so I
spend a lot of time listening to baseball while I’m doing something
else. And spending time with family is also very important to me.
SHB

W W W.HARRISONST.COM | 312.920.050 0

46 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 COMPANY PROFILE

Targeted Strategy
Crow Holdings seeks value-add properties in core markets, aiming for the sweet spot of student
renters who don’t want to pay top tier rents.

C
By Randall Shearin

Crow Holdings Capital, a relative newcomer

to the student housing industry, today owns
over 7,500 beds in the U.S., following a highly
targeted strategy for acquisition. Crow Holdings
is a privately owned real estate investment and
development firm with a 70-year operating his-
tory and a proven track record of performance,
partnership and innovation.
Founded in 1948 by legendary real estate
developer Trammell Crow, Crow Holdings
Capital (CHC) is the real estate investment man-
agement company of Crow Holdings. The com-
pany has a 20-year track record, managing over
$10 billion worth of assets through its diversi-
fied flagship value-add funds and specialized
fund strategies. CHC is currently placing its
eighth investment fund.
“We primarily invest in multifamily, indus-
trial, retail and student housing,” says Daniel
Branch, director of Crow Holdings Capital. “We
also have investments in manufactured housing,
self-storage, convenience stores and car washes. Luxx, located near the University of Texas at San Antonio, is owned in a joint venture between Crow
We aim to create a stable portfolio foundation Holdings Capital and The Preiss Company.
through investments in certain traditional prop-
erty types accompanied by various niche strate-
gies that we believe represent alpha drivers.” ties where we can enhance value by implement- Partners among others.
CHC began exploring investments in stu- ing capital improvement programs in the units, “As the opportunities we review require
dent housing in 2014 and closed on its first common areas or amenities or make a manage- increased scope or complexity with the value-
investment in August 2015, Gateway at Tempe ment and operational change to get things on add component, we often like to partner with a
near Arizona State University. The company the right track.” management team that is incentivized to execute
has since acquired 15 additional student hous- The company utilizes third-party manage- and have vertically integrated operations, creat-
ing properties comprising 12,000 beds and over ment for its properties, preferring to focus on the ing a strong alignment between the interests of
$230 million of equity. asset management of its investments. ownership and management,” says Branch. “We
“Our student housing strategy is to buy first- CHC fills the void between newer, highly have more comfort going into an investment
generation purpose-built student housing,” amenitized properties that appeal to students with a partner when the business plan is more
says Branch. “We like a majority, or 100 per- willing to pay in the top 10 percent of rents, and substantial in terms of cost or scope.”
cent, bed-to-bath parity and a meaningful set of the lower end of the rental spectrum. “We like With its partners, CHC has instituted major
amenities.” to focus on the middle 50 percent of students,” renovations on some of its properties. With both
Within that, CHC says Branch. “Those students in the 25th to 75th TEXLA and TPCO, the company has renovated
looks for properties percentile in terms of the affordability factor.” projects and common areas, including rebuild-
with a value-add CHC prefers flagship public schools in states ing clubhouses and other amenities. With
component. The with growing high school populations. The TEXLA, Crow Holdings Capital acquired 21
company strives to company has focused on the so-called smile Pearl in the West Campus submarket at the
create additional states, from North Carolina through the South University of Texas, Austin. The JV purchased
returns through to Arizona. the property below replacement cost from a
capital infusion CHC acquires directly, as well as through joint local owner/operator and was able to enhance
or operational ventures with aligned operators. About one- operations while implementing new amenities
improvements. “We third of the properties the company has acquired and management, improving NOI early in the
DANIEL BRANCH are not a buyer of are wholly owned by its funds. Two-thirds of its investment period. Despite a lot of supply in the
Director, core assets,” says acquisitions have been made through joint ven- Austin market, the JV was able to see impressive
Crow Holdings Capital Branch. “We are ture partnerships. Those partners include The results in a short amount of time.
looking for proper- Preiss Company (TPCO) and TEXLA Housing CHC is also equipped to acquire properties

StudentHousingBusiness.com November/December 2019 47

COMPANY PROFILE
on its own and hire a third-party
manager to operate the property.
In 2018, the company acquired
Wildwood in Lubbock, Texas, a
market where prices were sup-
pressed because of excess supply.
Over the past 12 months, supply
has been absorbed with no signifi-
Stability
integrity
And our customer service scores rock.
TM
Simply Exceptional Connections
48 November/December 2019
cant deliveries in the market. “We
believed it was only a matter of
time before the market would sta-
bilize; our value-add was mostly
in the timing of the investment,”
says Branch. “That’s what gave us
the confidence to buy a new asset
in the market below replacement
cost. It made sense for us to bring
in third-party management at that
property.”
The flexibility of being able to
acquire directly or with partners
is paramount to CHC’s strategy
in student housing. “We are built
internally to acquire directly; we
Contact US TODAY
800.677.6812
sales@pavlovmedia.com
have the ability to asset manage
in-house,” says Branch. “We work
with third-party management
companies to implement a busi-
ness strategy for each property.”
Of the 16 student housing prop-
erties the company has acquired,
it has sold five. “We underwrite
our acquisitions to hold for five to
seven years,” says Branch. “If we
are able to sell the property sooner
because we’ve completed our busi-
ness plan and the return is realized,
that works well for us.”
On the acquisitions side, CHC
remains active, seeking properties
primarily in the smile states that
offer stable fundamentals. “We are
very selective when it comes to
where we will buy,” says Branch.
“We look for population growth
in the states; we believe flagship
institutions will continue to pri-
marily be populated by in-state
enrollment.”
One of CHC’s strengths as a
buyer comes from its reputation —
gained from experience in acquir-
ing in other sectors of real estate —
of closing when it says it will. The
same goes for when the company
sells a property: CHC pays close
attention to who the buyer is when
considering an offer.
CHC targets markets where
there is little or no pipeline for
new development over the next
few years, and with meaningful
forecasted enrollment growth.
The company has identified the
Carolinas, Florida, Georgia, Texas
and Arizona as the states with the
strongest potential. “We under-
stand that in some cases we might
be early by a year,” says Branch.
“But that allows us to pick up gains
when the market gets stronger.”
CHC, along with its joint ven-
ture partners, often sources invest-
ments off-market. Its partners also
sometimes bring deals directly to
the firm, and CHC maintains con-
tact with the industry’s investment
sales community. “We continue to
be patient when looking for invest-
ment opportunities,” says Branch.
“For us, it’s more important to find
the asset than to have a large pipe-
line on paper. We’ll continue to fol-
low a highly targeted acquisition
strategy for student housing and
are excited by the opportunities in
the sector.” SHB
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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P3 TRENDS

Built For Success

Affordability and amenities that bolster student success are at the forefront as universities increasingly
team up with private developers on innovative projects across the country.

T
By Katie Sloan

The number of public-private partnership

(P3) developments continues to increase as
universities look to upgrade their housing
stock to attract and retain students while jug-
gling how to pay for new residence halls.
“The cost of providing education contin-
ues to increase for universities, while state
funding remains stagnant,” says Jason Taylor,
vice president of public-private partnerships
at American Campus Communities. “Mean-
while, deferred maintenance of campus facili-
ties is at an all-time high and the median new
or renovated age of campus housing exceeds
40 years.”
“This leaves a critical challenge for universi-
ties to find the resources to build, update and
repair student housing communities that will
support recruitment, retention and student
success,” Taylor continues. “More than ever,
higher education institutions are leveraging
public-private partnerships to transfer long-
term maintenance risk to the private sector.”
And increasingly, P3 projects aren’t just
addressing housing needs — universities
are partnering with the private sector to cre-
ate masterplanned districts geared towards On-campus developments by Greystar, like the one captured in the rendering above, place a focus
enriching the campus for students, faculty on providing a variety of spaces that allow students to come together and connect in unique ways
and visitors, alike, with the addition of mixed- both digitally and in-person
use elements and features that enhance mobil-
ity around campus.
“Colleges and universities expect new on- non-retail spaces with a mid- or long-term university partnerships at Greystar, agrees.
campus developments to serve multiple insti- master lease for a portion of the space.” “Community, academic and wellness spaces
tutional needs,” says Peter Isaac, executive When it comes to design, it’s no secret are the top priorities for on-campus develop-
vice president of public-private partnerships that today’s students prioritize personal suc- ments,” she says. “Generation Z’s behavioral
at CA Ventures. “Student housing continues to cess, and new developments on-campus have tendencies have been described by consult-
be an anchor for placed a heavy focus on academically-minded ing firm McKin-
on-campus devel- amenities and affordability. Group and indi- sey & Company
opment, but insti- vidual study spaces and fitness and wellness as ‘commu-
tutions are using facilities featuring top-of-the-line technology naholic,’ with
the housing to that help students achieve their goals both in a desire to be
drive other cam- and out of the classroom are top of mind for radically inclu-
pus masterplan those designing and developing on-campus sive. A variety
initiatives such as housing. of spaces that
enhanced mobil- “Many residents are more interested in edu- allow students
ity, sustainability cation-focused amenities, including computer to come togeth-
and spacial plan- rooms, free wifi and group study lounges, er and connect
ning. An increas- JULIE SKOLNICKI, rather than lifestyle-focused amenities like in unique ways
JASON TAYLOR
ing number of Senior Managing tanning beds, so our focus is on providing both digitally
Vice President of Public-
institutions are Director of University student tenants with the tools they need to and in-person
Private Partnerships,
willing to support Partnerships, be successful,” says Kyle Bach, president and are essential
American Campus
the cost of these Greystar CEO of The Annex Group. to a successful
Communities
non-residential or Julie Skolnicki, senior managing director of project.”

50 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

P3 TRENDS

A Change in Amenities
Generation Z is also looking for afford-
ability. “The key aspect of any project
these days is affordability and tying the
project to specific educational outcomes,”
says Jeff Turner, executive vice president
at Brailsford & Dunlavey. “We are seeing
less amenity spaces that are not core to
the mission, and more study spaces and
academic spaces. For example, we are
working on honors housing projects to
help schools elevate their honors housing
programs.”
To help on the affordability front, Grey-
star is looking to international projects
and urban-infill developments across
its portfolio for inspiration. “The focus
on affordability is real and is here to
stay,” says Skolnicki. “Our university
partners are looking to us to innovate
and advance the idea of collegiate liv-
ing with a focus on academic outcomes,
community engagement and affordabil-
ity. We are taking cues from our global
portfolio of student housing in London,
Brailsford & Dunlavey is consulting on Hornet Commons, a new project underway at Sacramento State
Paris and Barcelona as well as Greystar’s
University in California.
flex-housing communities in urban areas
like San Francisco and New York City

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52 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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P3 TRENDS

to drive efficiency into the units and create

authentic community spaces. This focus on
smart unit design and high-quality finishes
drive efficiencies in development, construction
and operations.”
Another important feature for today’s stu-
dent is excellent wifi. “With a renewed focus
on affordability, amenities such as tanning
beds and lazy rivers are seemingly a thing of
the past,”says Ned Williams, senior vice presi-
dent at Michaels.
“But there is one
amenity that is
by far the most
important to every
student we talk
to — high speed
internet. Wifi has
to have a huge
capacity given
the popularity of
streaming content
and we spend a
JEREMY DOSS
lot of time with ACC recently partnered with Northeastern University to open LightView, a 20-story residential tower
Senior Vice President,
industry partners offering 824 beds.
RISE: A Real Estate
designing substan-
Company
tial internet infra-

structure that is modular sonnel, software and hardware to support it,

and can adapt as technology
changes.”
In a survey conducted by
American Campus Commu-
nities, 65 percent of students
noted that they prefer using
a wireless connection when
accessing online, social
media and streaming con-
tent. “We make it a priority
to have reliable, high-speed
wifi bandwidth available to
all residents, and we are con-
tinuously exploring innova-
tive ways to deliver the best
connectivity for academic
and social purposes,” notes
Taylor.
The benefits of wifi don’t
stop at the student popula-
tion — properly utilized
technology can help the
institution work smarter and
more efficiently. “Higher
education professionals —
not just in housing — are
racing the evolution of tech-
nology and our students’
desires and needs to benefit
from it, use it, explore it and
learn with it,” says Becky
Sierp, regional manager at
COCM. “Our ability to man-
age technology advance-
ment and to manage the per-
directly impacts the student experience, learn-
ing and the ability for faculty and staff to func-
tion optimally.”
Alongside excellent wifi, the integration
of smart technology is an attractive element
for the current generation of students enter-
ing campus. “Students are enjoying the smart
home technology we’ve implemented in our
new communities,” says Amy Aponte, vice
president at Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions.
“The app-based management of their physical
environment — like their thermostat, light-
ing and living scenes — finds a natural home
in their daily stream. On a communal level, it
also connects students in a community-wide
consciousness about energy-use and collective
behavior. Sharing life in common areas is an
important component of the collegiate experi-
ence and harness-
ing technology
to build commu-
nity is a win. We
believe the utility
savings and mar-
keting advantage
of these invest-
ments easily pay
for themselves.”
Entrepreneurial
space is another
big topic in on- JEFF JONES
campus develop- Principal,
ment, providing Capstone Development
students with a Partners
space to create

54 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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Partnerships
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P3 TRENDS

and academically
shine. “We’re see-
ing more maker
spaces in com-
munities today,”
says Jeremy Doss,
senior vice presi-
dent of RISE: A
Real Estate Com-
pany. “Entrepre-
neurship centers
are a hot program
NED WILLIAMS topic across the
Senior Vice President, board. Today’s
Michaels students are cre-
ative and indus-
trious and we’re
making sure to explore the concept in each of
our latest partnerships. These spaces are flexi-
ble and adaptable but are designed and located
to be highly-visible and work to not only draw
residents and other campus constituents in but
also be another place for students to see and be
seen.”
Convenience plays another big part in design
ACC recently opened an academic and residential complex in partnership with the University
for Generation Z, with students having grown
of Illinois at Chicago. The facility includes 550 beds of student housing and a 54,000 square foot
accustomed to near-instant package delivery,
academic building
ride-share services and app-based food deliv-
ery. “Quick and convenient access for ride share
and delivery businesses is another important
design consideration,” continues Doss. “Uber,
Uber Eats and other similar applications need
to be thoughtfully planned for in the design
and programming of new buildings. Pack-
age delivery coordination is also important as
packages are coming in at an increasing rate.”

Accommodating Upperclassmen
While universities have traditionally focused
on providing housing for freshmen and sopho-
more students, many are shifting gears and
looking to attract upperclassmen and graduate
students back on-campus. “We’re beginning
to see more schools wanting to accommodate
their middle and upperclassmen on-campus,”
says Doss of RISE. “Universities are looking
at what is popular off-campus and working
with us to develop
a project and pro-
gram that makes
students want to
stay on-campus.
Amenities and
independence are
important factors
for students, while
parents are often
attracted to on-
campus options PETER ISAAC
and are willing Executive Vice President SouthSide Commons, located at Lehigh University, was developed by Greystar. The $48 million
pay premiums for of Public-Private community opened in fall 2019 and offers 428 beds.
the new facilities.” Partnerships,
Jeff Jones, prin- CA Ventures
cipal at Capstone

56 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

P3 TRENDS

At Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, RISE: A Real Estate Company is working on a three-phase development to replace 1,700
1960s-era dorm beds with 2,200 modern, suite-style residence hall units.

Development Partners, is also seeing a greater on the benefits of the P3 structure. “As univer- ing on-campus housing, as traditional funding
number of requests for housing geared towards sities are becoming more familiar with the P3 sources continue to shrink, and as more expe-
upper-level students. “We are exploring new structure and its flexibility, they are increasing- rienced and capable facility staff on campuses
and innovative unit types to address the evolv- ly understanding the value of, and embracing retire,” he says. “Institutions will continue to
ing needs of upper-division students, includ- the concept of, privatizing the facility and asset see and appreciate the experience, efficiency
ing graduate students,” he says. “These explo- management functions for new on-campus and value that proven, highly-qualified devel-
rations are focused on the needs of current facilities,” says Doss of RISE. opers and operators bring to their campus
and future generations, as well as affordability Jones of Capstone Development echoes this housing developments.”
long-term. Price point continues to be a key prediction. “I believe universities will continue “P3 housing initiatives will continue to be
driver of unit programming — particularly in to turn to private partners for assistance in combined into larger campus development
urban and/or expensive construction markets funding, developing, replacing and renovat- projects that address academic, dining, rec-
— so creativity and flexibility in unit sizes and
with furniture configurations is increasingly
important.”
Some universities are even looking at offer-
ing affordable housing for faculty on-campus.
“Much of the undergraduate demand has been
met, either on- or off-campus,” says Williams
of Michaels. “In the past year, many of the
requests for proposal we have seen released by
universities were for graduate students, faculty
and staff, or a combination of both. We are cur-
rently shortlisted for a 600-unit project at the
University of California, Santa Barbara, that is
exclusively for faculty and staff. It is a mix of
for-sale and for-rent units, but all under a P3
structure on the university’s land. Affordable
housing for faculty is just as much of a problem
as it is for students in a lot of markets. Univer-
sities are turning to us to help them provide
housing to make sure they can market to —
and retain — faculty.”

Looking Towards the Future

All signs point to continued interest from
universities in public-private partnership A project under development at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa by Greystar. The community is set
development moving forward, as more and for delivery in fall 2024.
more successful projects continue to shine light

58 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 P3 TRENDS

Want the latest industry news weekly? Sign up for our

newsletter at: studenthousingbusiness.com/subscribe

Avenue Auburn
$22,093,000 AUBURN, AL | 329 BEDS
FREDDIE MAC
A project featuring a dining hall by Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions at Texas
Woman’s University in Denton, Texas.

reation, athletic, retail and parking facility needs,” continues Jones. “On-
campus sites are getting more scarce as universities grow and build out
their campuses, so there will likely be more vertical development and
integration of these various components. This will make the projects more
complicated, but also more dynamic.”
From housing-focused projects to masterplan districts, public-private
partnerships are growing at a fast pace across the country and show no
sign of slowing. “We are being asked about non-housing P3 solutions at
a skyrocketing rate,” says Aponte of Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions.
”Housing partnerships have provided the data set on what makes for a Haven 17 at FSU
strong P3. Campus leaders are thinking differently about the bright, shiny
opportunities to evolve in a new campus masterplan. Fifteen years ago,
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universities might have prioritized projects for state funding. Today, they
work to quickly evaluate where public-private partnerships make sense.
Curricular facilities, office space, athletics, arts, energy and infrastructure
investments are all being evaluated as potential P3s. Frankly, it’s quite an
exciting time to be serving colleges and universities in this space. We are
encouraged to see provosts, faculty, students, alumni and broader campus
constituents look into these projects.” SHB

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StudentHousingBusiness.com November/December 2019 59

CAPITAL MARKETS

Strong Fundamentals Fuel

Lending Climate
While some concerns about oversupply loom, low interest rates and demand are bolstering loan activity
in the student housing sector.

L
By Randall Shearin

Like much of the commercial real estate indus- and the property are carefully evaluated by tors and well-
try, lending for the student housing sector is the lender. At France Media’s InterFace Mul- located assets
seeing favorable terms and low rates, thanks tifamily Southeast conference in early Decem- in a market
mostly to low Treasury rates. Aside from tradi- ber, several lenders on a panel — including with growing
tional lenders, institutional investors, foreign TD Bank and KeyBank — stated that they are enrollment,”
capital and equity funds continue to co-invest taking a deal-by-deal approach to the student says Will
in the space, fueling options for student hous- housing sector, carefully evaluating student Baker, man-
ing owners and developers. Looming in the deals. aging direc-
distance, however, are concerns from some “For deals with quality sponsorship and tor, real estate
quarters about oversupplied markets and good property characteristics, a borrower finance, with
stressed CMBS loans. should expect to see a very attractive debt Walker & Dun-
market with quotes from a variety of lenders,” lop. “There
2019 In Review says Roelke. “If you have one or some of a are no spe-
At the beginning of 2019, many student combination of a less experienced borrower, cific types of
WILL BAKER
housing buyers were having a tough time properties that are far from campus, or mar- properties we
Managing Director,
pricing deals because of a rising interest rate kets with a significant pipeline, lenders are are trying to
Walker & Dunlop
environment. That soon dissipated and financ- going to be less aggressive.” avoid, but we
ing activity quickly heated up, only to see Fan- Sponsor and property quality have become are definitely
nie and Freddie run up against their multifam- more important to lenders, but borrowers, on more mindful
ily caps. In September, the agencies received the other hand, often don’t consider too much when lending in smaller markets with smaller
higher caps, again freeing up the capital mar- about their lender, say investment bankers. schools.”
kets and allowing more agency lending. But long-term relationships and repeat busi- Secondary and tertiary markets have
“This year has been a more challenging ness are important to lenders. become a concern for lenders, especially the
market for financing student housing due to “Most sponsors are looking for maximum GSEs, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Both
the volatility from Fannie and Freddie com- proceeds,” says Lee Weaver, senior vice agencies have requirements in place that stu-
bined with additional ‘noise’ in the markets president in the Tampa office of NorthMarq. dent housing deals be near universities of a
relatd to the performance of student housing,” “Ultimately they are concerned with investor certain size. Fannie Mae, for instance, requires
says Benjamin Roelke, senior vice president, returns, and larger proceeds move the needle student deals to be near a campus that has at
debt and structured finance, at CBRE Capital more when all other things are equal.” least 10,000 students and within two miles of
Markets. “We Long-term players in the student housing campus. The agencies also carefully monitor
spend a signif- industry have learned the lesson that estab- oversupply and avoid markets where there is
icant amount lishing a relationship with a lender can lead to a large percentage of new off-campus deliver-
of time mak- ease of access to capital on future deals. ies, states where there are changes in the num-
ing sure that “Every sponsor wants the best execution for ber of high school graduates, and year-over-
the lenders are each deal and venture, but any group plan- year swings in occupancy and rents.
seeing a deal ning to be in the space long-term, including “The supply/enrollment trends will con-
clearly, focus- lenders and sponsors, are looking for rela- tinue to be something we monitor closely
ing on the right tionships. Lenders are certainly more inter- along with other industry experts,” says Grif-
aspects and ested in term and repeat business than one- fin Cotter, the newly-named director of stu-
understand- off and construction-only relationships,” says dent housing production and sales at Freddie
ing how to Tim Bradley, founder of TSB Capital Advisors. Mac. “In recent years, we have seen some mar-
analyze them “The banks are always looking for ancillary kets become oversupplied for a year or two
properly.” lines of business to help them sell new rela- and then rebound when development slowed
What Roelke tionships internally.” and/or enrollment picked up, which is great
describes is a Mortgage bankers also note that when they to see. On the flip side, we have seen other
BENJAMIN ROELKE
deal-by-deal source business, they are looking for estab- markets continue to see development outpace
Senior Vice President,
approach to lished operators with strong deals for surety enrollment, and these are the types of markets
CBRE
lending, where of execution. that we will approach with more caution.”
the sponsor “We are looking for experienced opera- Fannie Mae provided a list of markets it

60 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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CAPITAL MARKETS

is watching to tor at Greystone. “This is very favorable news dent housing

SHB, which and we are optimistic about loan volume for deals in 2020,
included Colum- the remainder of this year and through 2020.” we also expect
bia, Missouri; Freddie and Fannie have a mandate that 37.5 the banks, life
College Station, percent of their business needs to be “mission companies
Texas; Cham- driven” to finance affordable housing, which and debt funds
paign, Illinois; does not apply to student housing in many to be more
Lubbock, Texas; cases. That mandate has not affected the GSEs’ active than in
Ta l l a h a s s e e , appetite for student housing, however. past years,” he
Florida; States- “The volume caps for Freddie and Fannie says.
boro, Georgia; are averaging $20 billion per quarter, and the C M B S
Baton Rouge, 37.5 percent required exclusion rates are in line caused a bit of
Louisiana; with historical averages,” says Roelke. “How- a scare for the
and Oxford, ever, they have seen some weakness in their sector when it
Mississippi. portfolio performance for student housing and came to light
TIM BRADLEY LEE WEAVER
As mentioned the FHFA regulator has also asked them to pull in 2019 that
Founder, Senior Vice President,
previously, loan back on specialty products. As a result, both some tranches
TSB Capital Advisors NorthMarq
activity slowed agencies have specifically said they will focus of CMBS loans
during the third on aggressively pursuing the highest quality containing
quarter as the deals, but will concede more market share to student hous-
agencies reached their lending caps for the other lenders.” ing were borderline problematic. However,
year. New caps were approved in September, Opening the market up more means there is many active players in the student housing
and activity has since resumed. room for more lenders in the space, meaning space maintain any concern is overblown and
“After the announcement indicating that that borrowers may have to look beyond the the reaction is what is causing nervousness.
both Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have $100 agencies for financing. That’s something that “The only potential red flag that we’re see-
billion loan caps on new originations through Bradley is anticipating for 2020. ing in the student housing capital markets is
the end of 2020, loan activity has picked up sig- “While we expect Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac tied to the overreaction regarding distressed
nificantly,” says Joe Stepchuk, managing direc- and CMBS lenders to continue to bid on stu- CMBS assets,” says Bradley. “That panic is

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62 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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CAPITAL MARKETS

largely coming from the larger financial and real

estate community, not from those who are active-
ly involved in the student housing space day-to-
10-Year U.S. Treasury Rates, 2019
day. The fact is that most of the deals that have
underperformed were probably over-levered in
the first place. Hindsight is always 20/20, but
understanding the characteristics of those deals
has taught sponsors, lenders and intermediaries
to be more cognizant of the potential pitfalls of
certain opportunities.”

What Do Lenders Want To See?

The most popular properties at the dance con-
tinue to be those that are close to campuses at top
state universities.
“Lenders compete most aggressively for fully
occupied, stabilized properties pedestrian to
Power 5 universities,” says Bradley. “That hasn’t
changed. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t
intriguing opportunities in Tier 2 and tertiary
markets. While each deal and market needs to be
reviewed on its individual merits, lenders in gen-
eral are taking a more conservative underwriting
approach based on enrollment outlook and long-
term demand in secondary markets. That said,
there are still real opportunities in that type of
market at the right basis. There is plenty of capital
available.”

“We are looking to finance properties with enrollments of 10,000 or

greater and showing a positive or stable enrollment trend,” says Step-
YOU KNOW HOW TO chuk of Greystone. “Additionally, the properties should be within a few
OPERATE STUDENT miles of campus, 90-plus percent occupied and have experienced spon-
sors and managers. While these are some high-level parameters, we have
HOUSING, WE KNOW closed loans that deviate from them.”
HOW TO FINANCE IT
2020 Outlook
The lending outlook for 2020 is much the same as 2019, with the agen-
■ Top 10 Agency lender cies setting the pace for the industry to follow. Freddie Mac estimates that
■ Flexible in tailoring solutions it will have funded approximately $1.5 billion in student housing in 2019,
■ Bridge financing and Cotter expects his agency to fund around $1 billion in 2020. Fannie
Mae did not release its annual volume to SHB, but did state that it expects
to remain active in the market in 2020.
$35M $28M Many lenders and intermediaries were also very positive about the
Fannie Mae Fannie Mae outlook for 2020. Bradley, whose company arranged more than $5.4 bil-
DUS® DUS®
lion in financing in 2019, says, “Based on our pipeline, we have every
reason to believe next year will be strong as well.”
Baker, whose firm also traditionally ranks among the top intermediar-
ies in the sector, stated that Walker & Dunlop has a “very robust” pipe-
line for 2020.
While most sentiment is positive, the impact that a smattering of
Twenty 91 North Northpoint Apartments troubled properties could have on the industry’s reputation cannot be
Buffalo, NY West Rexburg, ID ignored.
192-units / 640-beds 154-units / 1,024-beds
dedicated student housing dedicated student housing
“There are some mixed messages in the industry,” says Weaver of
NorthMarq. “At the NMHC Student Housing Conference in October,
I think everyone heard that caution is the stance for student housing.
CALL NOW FOR MORE INFORMATION Perhaps, in part, because there is more data available and more attention
JOE STEPCHUK | 540.359.7041 | joe.stepchuk@greyco.com paid to markets that are overbuilt. However, we are seeing a full steam
www.greyco.com ahead approach for experienced operators in good markets. Prior to
application, lenders are asking significantly more questions about com-
©2019 Greystone & Co. II LLC. All Rights Reserved. References to the term “Greystone,” refer peting projects under construction or in the planning stages. Lenders are
to Greystone & Co. II LLC and/or its affiliated companies, as applicable. Loans are offered
through Greystone Funding Company LLC, Greystone Servicing Company LLC, and/or other really keyed in on future supply levels in any given market.” SHB
Greystone affiliated companies.

66 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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and construction. No probllama.
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on time and on budget, Aspen Heights has been a proven partner, consistently ranked in the top
owners and developers of student housing nationally since 2006. Chew it over. Give us a call.
LEASING AND MARKETING

Making Marketing Count

Owners, operators and marketing experts weigh in on best practices for leasing and marketing.

W
Compiled by Katie Sloan

When it comes to generating leases, it takes more than a roster of

slam-dunk amenities and a location next to campus to get students to What are two best practices
sign their name on the dotted line. Attracting future residents to your for improving marketing and
community requires adept usage of social and digital media, plus tra- leasing?
ditional on the ground marketing, alongside a carefully tended to and Too many people look at marketing
positive online reputation. channels in a silo. Marketing doesn’t
For this issue of Student Housing Business, we polled a collection of work very well when your strategy is
owners, operators and marketing experts on best practices for turning focused on a few channels. Marketing
leads into leases. Read on for some clever ways to take leasing and works best when all channels and strate-
marketing at your property to the next level. gies work in concert to move a prospect
through the sales funnel.

Where do you feel you could RYAN SUNDLING

most improve in your leasing Senior Group Marketing
What are two best practices and marketing efforts? Manager,
for improving marketing One major improvement we’re looking Cardinal Group
and leasing? at is finding solutions to meet the pros- Management
First, I would encourage you to gain pect when they are ready to lease, on
as much competitive intelligence as their time. Most leasing offices are only
you can. Knowing average rents, open for 33 percent of the hours in a given week. We need to find
occupancies and other key met- solutions to be able to open up communication channels between our
rics will help you plan and price team and prospects 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In some early
accordingly. It can be challenging to tests, when we have been able to communicate with the prospect when
balance getting top dollar for your they are available rather than only during our traditional office hours,
rents with risking vacancy. Under- we’ve seen a meaningful lift in lead and leasing velocity.
standing the market will put you in
the best position to maximize prof-
DIANA PAZ
itability while minimizing vacancy
National Sales Manager of
loss.
Multifamily Marketing,
What are two best practices
apartments.com
for improving marketing and
Second, leverage paid and organic leasing?
search to drive more student traf- Reach the student how they want to be
fic to your communities. Did you reached. A lot of the time, students don’t
know that up to 80 percent of apartment searches start on want to talk to a human and would
Google? Communities that position themselves at the top of paid prefer to do research on their own. Allow
and organic search results will be most successful. This is an area the student to consume your content on
where an ILS can support you, as their investments in paid and many different platforms, including
organic search are often very cost-effective ways to drive visibility texting, emails, social media and more.
and traffic to your communities. Also, take your property tour to the
student. Stop waiting on the student
How do you think owners and operators could CHRIS VASILAKIS to come visit your property for a tour.
improve their leasing and marketing efforts? CEO, Go on-campus and give property tours
Invest in your current residents and their experience. A Harvard VR Student Housing in virtual reality. This allows you to go
Business Review study found that a one-star difference in aver- directly into your pool of prospects and
age ratings can lead to as much as a 9 percent difference in reve- give tour after tour.
nues. Even though many of your student residents may not return
next year, they’re talking with fellow students every day, and How do you think owners and operators could
they’re likely to leave reviews online. A relatively small customer improve their leasing and marketing efforts?
service investment can pay off significantly as you look to fill your Most owners and operators can improve their efforts by adopting new
communities next year and beyond. technologies that allow them to automate their processes. Spending
a little more money upfront can often lead to saving/making much
more down the road.

68 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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LEASING AND MARKETING
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
Pay careful attention to your online repu-
tation. It’s critical in today’s world to
not only acknowledge and respond to
online reviews, but to take healthy action
against any feedback, positive or nega-
tive. Residents and prospects value per-
sonalized experiences. They want to feel
like management cares about them and
BILLY WILKINSON their needs. If the person is able to be
CEO, identified from their review, be sure to
Threshold not only respond to the review online but
take the extra step and follow-up with
that person directly. They will not only
be more likely to renew, but it creates an opportunity for them to share
their experience and refer their friends.
Create a consistent experience for prospects — both online and offline.
With consumers spending most of their time online, it’s important to
start with the online experience. Invest in a user-friendly website that
creates a positive and seamless experience for prospects. Ensure that
your branding is consistent across all platforms, starting with your
website, to your banner ads, to your leasing office space, down to the
brochures/flyers/emails and customer service. Building a beautiful,
70 November/December 2019
recognizable and trustworthy brand will go a long way with your leas-
ing and marketing efforts.
How do you think owners and operators could improve
their leasing and marketing efforts?
Be consistent with your marketing efforts. Too often, owners and
operators will create a whipsaw effect by adjusting budgets up and
down, sometimes even turning off marketing completely for budgetary
reasons. It’s good to be flexible with what is being spent, but stopping
completely will negatively impact leasing numbers. Keep the budget
set and then adjust the mix of where the
money is spent until your marketing is
driving consistent and qualified prospec-
tive residents.
And if you haven’t already, consider unit-
ing your leasing and marketing teams.
Think of a position much like a chief
revenue officer, but this one is a chief
occupancy officer. Her/his role would be
to lead and unite the leasing and market-
ing teams to success. This leads to better HALEY MCCARLEY
incentives, better processes and better Client Success Manager,
sharing of information through the life- Threshold
cycle of a lead and of a resident.
StudentHousingBusiness.com

What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
Focus your energy on improving the
resident and prospect experience. For
those of us selling premiere proper-
ties in highly competitive markets, it’s
imperative that we offer an exception-
al experience for residents and also for
prospects when they tour. The proper-
ty tour needs to match the high quality
of the product we are delivering ROB DINWIDDIE
Senior Vice President of
Getting comfortable selling your Leasing and Marketing,
product sight-unseen is another sug- Landmark Properties
gestion that I would have. We equip
our teams with the right tools and
training to be able to sell to prospects who don’t intend on visit-
ing. Leveraging technology to provide a great virtual tour experi-
ence even when only connected with a prospect by text or online
chat is going to become increasingly common.
Where do you feel you could most improve in your
leasing and marketing efforts?
I think that all organizations that are growing as fast as we are will
face challenges when it comes to hiring and training the best people
for the right roles at the site level. Landmark continues to focus on
improving training, retention, and hiring for the best possible fit for
our local teams.
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
The best practice for improving marketing
and leasing is to first focus on the funda-
mentals, and then build up. Our indus-
try continues to build incredible product,
and industry lease-up teams have become
more sophisticated in their marketing
approach. As an industry, I don’t believe
ALEX CANDIA there is an overall marketing deficiency
Director, anymore. But we must realize that we’ve
Kayne Anderson promised an elevated experience at our
Real Estate projects and we need to refocus our com-
mitment to that ‘brand promise.’ To do so,
we need to ensure that on-site teams are
satisfying their customers. Is the building
clean? Does the maintenance team have all the resources they need
to support our brand promise? Once we have firmed up the impor-
tant pillar of customer experience, we can then turn up the volume
on marketing channels with confidence that we will deliver. In
today’s context, we believe everything is marketing.
Where do you feel you could most improve in your
leasing and marketing efforts?
We believe that the student renter is an incredibly sophisticated
consumer, and when developing marketing strategies, we need to be
attuned to how the student is consuming content and communicat-
ing. We are constantly looking to a combination of our on-site team,
external marketing agencies and our own experiences and learnings
to find the most effective way to lease and market. We know that we
always need to be improving our knowledge of the space.
StudentHousingBusiness.com
LEASING AND MARKETING
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
‘Build it and they will come,’ said Kevin
Costner in “Field of Dreams” — and
many developers have tried in the stu-
dent housing industry for the past few
years. It’s getting tougher to hit 100 per-
cent occupancy for the full year in many
cities now as the supply of purpose-built
student housing increases. It’s vital that DANIEL SMITH
every building sets itself apart from the Chief Partnerships Officer,
competition locally, not just in terms of UNILODGERS.com
the amenities and standard of rooms;
branding and targeted marketing is
more important than ever.
Stating the obvious… The traditional digital marketing avenues of
Google, Facebook and Instagram will drive people to your website.
Then it’s up to your marketing team to keep them there and convert
them as quickly as possible. Provide engaging content, great images
and video — showcase the best bits of your building and keep your
sales journey simple. Focus on retention and reviews. The better
your service levels, the happier your students will be, the more
likely they are to renew. Incentivize them to bring a friend and once
you’ve got those happy customers encourage them to review your
building and service absolutely everywhere they can, but in particu-
lar on Google and Facebook.
Where do you feel you could most improve in your
leasing and marketing efforts?
Diversify your student source base by using a marketplace. I’ve been
a student housing operator so I know how important online market-
places are in the battle for student recruitment. We enable students
to research, compare and book their student housing in one place
and we’ve already signed up over 500,000 beds in the U.S. on a no-
lease, no-fee basis. Marketplaces have active marketing campaigns
to entice students to book their room and work with universities
and international recruitment agents to assist them with the large
numbers of international students looking to study in the U.S. It’s a
cost effective way of expanding your marketing and leasing efforts.
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
For properties looking to improve their
marketing and leasing strategies going
into this next leasing season, start with
taking a look at your brand identity. Our
customers want to engage with brands
that are consistent and authentic. At
Peak Campus, our marketing and sales
teams partner with our on-site teams to
craft engaging experiences that allow for
our customers to interact with our brand
all throughout their journey. Check out
MARIA FILIPPONE
brands like Madewell or So Worth Liv-
Director of Marketing,
ing for creative inspiration... (cont’d on
Peak Campus
p. 72)
November/December 2019 71
LEASING AND MARKETING

(Cont’d from p. 71) Another great way that properties can increase What are two best practices
their leasing efforts in the new season is to overhaul their digital for improving marketing and
strategy. The digital media mix is always changing and evolving, so leasing?
it is really important to take a fresh new look at what you are doing We always recommend taking the
with your online presence and digital strategy. Review what worked time to identify and understand your
last season and what didn’t, double check your target audience to unique audience. Once the audience is
see if there are changes to your target this season that may impact established, you begin to understand
your approach, and audit the media that you are using to advertise. how to develop a brand that attracts
Oftentimes, teams will ‘set-it and forget-it’ online but this is where them to your property. This necessary
our customers first interact with us. information allows you to craft com-
munication and marketing plans that
Where do you feel you could most improve in your speak to your audience in a way they AUSTIN YODER
leasing and marketing efforts? will listen to and appreciate. The next Account Manager,
At Peak Campus we are always learning about our customers and step is to make sure that you iden- Mixed Media Creations
what they want to experience in their journey, both as prospects tify your campaign strategy and goals
and residents. We want to always be thinking about ways to create with messaging, design and metrics.
an amazing customer experience at every touch point. Through the When deploying campaigns and throughout their duration, it is
data that we collect from focus groups, surveys and our online repu- imperative for you to measure your results and pivot accordingly.
tation platforms we will adjust our efforts for this next leasing sea- You will do this through real-time listening, testing and analysis
son to provide amazing experiences that we hope will lead to online of the effects over various periods of time. Following these steps
reviews and testimonials and better yet, make lasting memories for through your marketing efforts will ensure that your messaging is
our residents. relevant and impactful for your targeted audience...(Cont’d on p. 74)

72 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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LEASING AND MARKETING
(Cont’d from p. 72)
How do you think most owners and operators could
most improve their leasing and marketing efforts?
We are seeing a shift of focus towards relational marketing as audi-
ences are craving sincerity and deeper engagement. The best way
to improve your leasing and marketing efforts is to make sure that
you are listening intently to your audience. There is a separation of
the value of the product, service and experience to the customer and
of the marketing itself. All of these areas of your business should
be fully integrated into campaigns. By listening to the consumer
and integrating this feedback through the proper channels, you are
improving your overall value to the customer. Business is personal,
and value today is brought to consumers beyond just products and
services. Through reception and response, your audience will estab-
lish their needs. It is our job as marketers to truly listen and evolve
our communication to ensure our messaging resonates.
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
Good follow-up procedures and the exe-
cution of those tasks are becoming a lost
art which needs to be reinforced and be
part of your overall sales training. As our
demographic changes, so does the way
this newer demographic communicates
among each other. It’s crucial we stay
on top of these changing shifts and rec-
ognize that while certain touch points
have diverged, the desire from prospects
JULIE BONNIN to have personalized conversations and
COO, connections after the initial visit, phone
Asset Living call, text or email are just as important as
they were a decade ago.
Digital marketing and online media
presence are becoming one of your largest marketing expenses and
it is critically important to maintain your overall digital curb appeal.
Owning the data from the digital marketing efforts is important in
deriving meaningful reporting metrics in order to make better busi-
ness decision on where we choose to spend our digital dollars. Asset
recently launched a new digital data report for our portfolio which
focuses on these key metrics. Instead of relying upon the agencies
to provide us with this critical data, we now control the data in real
time which allows us to make quicker and betters decisions in order
to the get the most out of our campaigns.
Where do you feel you could most improve in your
leasing and marketing efforts?
Your online property reputation over the years has become an
increasingly more important factor to the students when they are
making their housing decision. Asset Living engages J. Turner
Research and Modern Message to help us manage our online reputa-
tion, but more importantly, we have invested heavily into training
our staff how to respond to each negative and positive review. We
continue to work and strive to improve our overall online reputation
by proactively responding to all reviews, posting relevant content
and holding our teams accountable in managing all reviews.
74 November/December 2019
What are two best practices
for improving marketing and
leasing?
First, educating all team members
involved in your property’s leasing
efforts on how to analyze marketing
data is incredibly important. We’re
talking about everyone from the on-
site team to members of the ownership
group. We have all of this amazing
marketing data at our disposal for free
and, unfortunately, it continues to be MATT PAVLICK
underutilized. Data has no opinion or President,
bias. It has no hunches or gut feeling GRO Marketing
— data tells the truth and nothing but
the truth! With just a small amount
of training on how to read campaign data, your whole team can
understand and determine which marketing tactics are producing
the most opportunities and at what cost. Having this knowledge will
then allow your team to make quick, smart, educated decisions on
where to invest your marketing efforts and produce the best ROI.
Second, it is important to understand that the leasing sales cycle is
a frequency play. According to Salesforce, ‘it takes six to eight touch
points to generate a viable sales lead.’ By analyzing the conversion
attribution models of several student housing properties, I can tell
you that this is very true for our industry. We see some students con-
vert after their third touch point and some after their twenty-third
touch point (seriously)! A touch point can be things like a website
visit, viewing one of your social media posts or even an in-person
interaction at a university event. The point is, every marketing
moment matters. Every time a student hears your name or sees
your logo, just know that you’re keeping top of mind awareness and
pushing that prospect closer and closer to a potential lease!
How do you think most owners and operators could
most improve their leasing and marketing efforts?
To push themselves and their marketing agency to be the best
marketers possible. I touched on this earlier, but being able to read
website and campaign data so you can make smart marketing deci-
sions is huge. Time and time again, we see owners and operators
ignore marketing reports and never view them. Millions of dollars
are at stake and the key to solving the leasing puzzle could very well
be within those reports! Set aside a few minutes every other week
to look at the data. Make notes when you see big spikes and dips
in the numbers and never be afraid to ask your agency for insight.
Schedule a monthly call with your marketing agency to review
performance so you can put together a winning game plan for the
following month.
How do you think most
owners and operators could
most improve their leasing
and marketing efforts?
I think one of the biggest challeng-
es we see in leasing and marketing
is we tend to think it’s cookie-cut-
ter. However, each property (and
market) requires its own special for-
CHANTELLE BERGER
mula. Instead of reaching out to the
Business Development
masses with marketing efforts, zone in
Executive,
on current residents and ask questions
Modern Message
(Cont’d on p. 76)
StudentHousingBusiness.com
LEASING AND MARKETING
(Cont’d from p. 74) to identify why they chose to live at your commu-
nity and what they love most about living there. Use that intelligence
to cater the property’s marketing and leasing efforts. For instance, if
you poll your residents and ask what made you choose to live at X
apartments and 70 percent of residents say proximity to campus, I’d
ensure that is a talking point on all property tours and ensure all print
and digital marketing is tailored to speak to the property location.
There are several hundred residents living at your community — each
one of them who does not share their experience online is a missed
opportunity. Find innovative ways to engage with your residents to
identify current resident advocates and create new ones. Your resi-
dents are your best source of authentic, organic content through social
media, blogs and online reviews —make sure you are inviting them to
participate in the conversation through photos, hashtags and all social
avenues.
How do you think most owners and operators could
most improve their leasing and marketing efforts?
Identify your Key Performance Indicator (KPI) for new lease acquisi-
tion and keep a pulse on which advertising sources fall within your
target KPI. If a paid source isn’t generating leases, don’t hesitate to
re-allocate those dollars. We should continue to challenge ourselves to
not see marketing dollars as a line item, but as an opportunity to culti-
vate the best solutions and return on investment for our communities.
76 November/December 2019
How do you think most owners
and operators could most
improve their leasing and
marketing efforts?
There are definitely more than two sug-
gestions and best practices that I would
give the student housing industry, but if
I could give two suggestions that can be
implemented immediately they would be:
Today’s students don’t buy into the whole, MICHAEL NEWTON
‘if you don’t sign a lease right now you’ll CEO,
miss out on the deal,’ (pain) marketing SWARM
messages. They hear that stuff all the time
and know that they’ll be able to wait a
few days and catch the next deal. To create marketing messaging
that drive action, you need to focus on appealing to students’ desires
instead of telling them they will miss out. Change your messaging
from, ‘you’re going to want to sign a lease because you’ll hate missing
out on this deal,’ to, ‘you’re going to want to sign a lease because you
will love how it feels to live at our community.’ Telling better stories
is the single most important piece to producing marketing that drives
revenue. Facts tell, stories sell. People buy on emotion and justify with
logic, so our marketing needs to inspire emotion through stories. Great
marketing stories have four key components: What do you do, what
difference/change are you trying to make in the world, what makes
your product/service different and why should you care. Using that
framework to create a story to include in your marketing materials will
be a sure way to increase leasing and marketing ROI.
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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CONSTRUCTION

Construction Practices
Adapt
Building materials, designs and job site protocol are changing to meet a number of challenges, chief
among them a shrinking labor pool and the difficulties encountered on complex land assemblages.

A
By Lynn Peisner

Any developer who’s been busy in recent

years will tell you that sometimes having to
settle for a less-than-perfect contracting team
is inevitable. All of the best general contractors
are booked solid these days and can afford to
be extremely selective about the jobs they take
and the jobs they pass on.
As Bob Earwood, senior managing direc-
tor of construction for Greystar, explains it, if
a contractor is maxed out, but hears about a
project that might be promising, they take a
gamble by overbidding. “They’ll throw what
we in the market call ‘stupid money’ down
in an estimate that is much higher than they
would normally ask for,” says Earwood. “If
they get it, they’ll try to make it work, and if
they don’t, it’s ok because their schedule is full
already.”
This is but one challenge squeezing the
construction industry today. And the people
who build student housing are changing their
game to make it all work. Sometimes that
means being open to prefabricated building
materials. Sometimes it means tripling the 191 College in Auburn, Alabama, was developed by American Campus Communities and
number of construction managers on a job site. constructed by Carter. The architect was Niles Bolton Associates. ACC is focused on delivering
In other cases, it’s about doing more with less projects that students can afford and have been known to pass on sites that would drive
for communities built on a site made up of construction costs, and subsequently rents, too high.
several different parcels. Whatever the case,
it’s all about creativity these days, and several whom never returned. Younger millennials to carry concrete blocks up 20 stories above
projects across the country are great examples aren’t showing much interest in the trades, the ground, then let’s look at those. Right now
of that. so the construction industry is suffering the we have an aging population that is handling
consequences, including higher compensation that, and it’s starting to hurt.”
The Main and a shortage of skilled workers. With a shortage of workers, available quali-
Squeeze According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statis- fied contractors still need to be managed prop-
The primary tics (BLS), the construction industry will expe- erly. Earwood says if he’s dealing with a new
problem squeez- rience faster-than-average growth through contractor, more safeguards need to be put
ing the construc- 2026, with a median annual wage of $45,820, in place. “It’s a case by case basis, but we’ve
tion industry which surpasses the $37,690 median wage for doubled up on a construction director,” he
today is a lack of all industries. says. “Where we might have only had one in
skilled labor. The “These trades are making really, really good the past, we might use two. I’ve dispatched as
construction field money,” says Earwood, noting that pay can many as three or four to a project to help man-
saw droves of be especially competitive in more difficult age that process.”
RICH POND craftsmen defect trades, like masonry, carpentry and drywall. The labor shortage plays out in a ripple
Chief Marketing Officer, to other jobs dur- “To develop our young people, we need to effect throughout the industry. Jake New-
Prescient ing the Great combine pay scale with smarter ways of work- man, senior vice president of development
Recession, most of ing,” Earwood says. “If there are easier ways for American Campus Communities (ACC)

78 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

CONSTRUCTION
confirms that this is the Number 1 challenge
facing new development today. “As a result,
the labor shortage is creating an increase in
costs and ultimately requiring developers to
increase rental rates to make deals work, which
results in projects that only offer the highest
price points,” he says.
“At ACC, our development strategy is cen-
tered around designing communities with a
variety of price points that appeal to all stu-
dents, not just the top socio-economic resi-
dents. We have passed on many of the off-cam-
pus projects that exist today because we did not
feel our philosophy of ‘building for the masses,
not the classes’ could be maintained.”
Labor problems have been a catalyst for
many changes. New companies have sprung
up that produce materials or feature processes
that require less labor. Prescient is one such
company. It produces light gauge steel, off-
site manufactured systems via a proprietary
“digital thread” or software that sees a project
through drawings, to materials manufacturing
to onsite assembly.
Prescient’s digital thread was used on the
construction of a student housing project at
the University of California, Davis (UC Davis).
The Green at West Village, a campus apartment
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rbroderick@gilbaneco.com
80 November/December 2019
Suites at Third in Champaign, Illinois, designed
by Niles Bolton Associates, had to be developed
into an L-shape because of the available
site. Land assemblage in close-to-campus
transactions can cause construction challenges
in today’s environment.
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project with 3,300 beds, broke ground in Feb-
ruary and marked the company’s move into
being approved for seismic zones.
The Michaels Organization is the devel-
oper on the project, Stantec is the architect
and CBG Building Co. is the general contrac-
tor. According to Rich Pond, Prescient’s chief
marketing officer, Prescient only requires 32
trades people to install the system at a rate of
18,000 square feet per week. “This compares to
70-plus workers to install 12,000 square feet per
week with stick-built or concrete structures,”
he says. “Our digital thread also accelerates the
design process and speeds the time to get to
cost and schedule estimates. At UC Davis, we
started the design process in June 2018, and our
first permit submittals were issued a short five
months later. The more comprehensive, up-
front 3-D designs ensure fewer changes later in
the project.”
While materials and processes such as these
might seem like an easy fix, buy-in isn’t always
immediate. Jonathan Delcambre, partner with
architecture firm BKV Group, confirms that the
shortage of skilled labor often results in a push
for more prefabricated building components.
“However, prefab requires the general con-
tractor to both understand that construction
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StudentHousingBusiness.com
CONSTRUCTION

type and have a desire to push for newer build-
ing technologies,” he says.
Site Challenged
With the most coveted development projects
being close to campus, land assemblage often
brings about its own unique set of construction
challenges. Michael Kolodzy, senior project
manager with Niles Bolton Associates (NBA),
says that land assemblage issues are often com-
pounded by zoning requirements and can limit
the available density on the site to meet the
proforma demands of the development team.
“There are very few times we get a generally
rectilinear site with dimensions matching the
needs of the parking structure, bounded by
streets on the edges, and allowing the team to
provide the maximum density without com-
promise to distance to the university,” says
Kolodzy.
He elaborates on one project that experi-
enced this issue, The Suites at Third in Cham-
paign, Illinois. The developer was unable to
acquire the land directly at the intersection of
3rd Street and E. John Street, so the building
developed into an L shape because of the avail-
able site. This impacted parking mostly, and
the building was significantly under the park-
ing ratio that the tion, while at the same time forcing the parking
developer usually garage to have a tier set at the half level.”
aimed for. Kolodzy In the end, NBA was able to provide a more
explains it was also prominent outdoor amenity in a rooftop pool
a challenge to get as well as a connected fitness center on the top
efficient corridors level of the parking garage.
to work within the Delcambre concurs that a scarcity of econom-
compressed dimen- ic sites is one of the biggest obstacles student
sions. “We were housing developers face today, and also agrees
able to slightly that parking can often be a challenge under
compress the ele- these conditions.
vated courtyards to MICHAEL KOLODZY “We are studying sites that are difficult to
tighten up and hit Senior Project Manager, make work for their bottom line,” he says.
an efficiency that Niles Bolton Associates “Adding to that complexity are archaic parking
kept the project requirements that push costs to be much higher
viable by staying than they realistically should be. Thus, we need
within wood con- to get very creative on making ‘inopportune’
struction for the majority of the structure.” deals work by utilizing other construction
NBA also worked on a dense community methods, such as partial prefabrication, mass
at 191 College, a project in Auburn, Alabama, timber and light gauge steel. In some instances,
developed by ACC. “This building did not we are even utilizing stacked parking systems
lose the prominent corner like Suites at Third to meet city requirements.” SHB
did, but it was compressed by the inability
to acquire an adjacent bank property,” says
Kolodzy. “This greatly compromised the court-
yard provided in the eastern portion of the
block and forced the parking garage of the
building to be wrapped into a singular loca-

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82 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com


Driving Toward Data
The industry is making advancements — though there is still a long way to go — in how it collects,
shares, presents and interprets data.
C
By Lynn Peisner and Randall Shearin
Consistency and accuracy remain among the
top concerns where student housing data is
concerned today. When markets become over-
supplied or the economy hits lean times, data
becomes even more important, but simultane-
ously harder to trust, and even harder to come
by. With only one public company in the sec-
tor, the industry relies heavily on its leading
companies to share benchmarking data with
independent third parties. No longer are there
two public companies in the sector to have
somewhat of a check-and-balance system.
Macro Concerns
At the macro level, data on higher education
helps student housing owners forecast enroll-
ment, and thus demand for housing. Many
larger providers comb through the annual
data from the National Center for Education
Statistics to study the trends, says Fred Pierce,
CEO of Pierce Education Properties. Pierce
is also the chair of the National Multifamily
Housing Council’s (NMHC) student housing
research fund, which is raising money to fund
industry research.
“Part of what our industry is grappling with
right now is that the macroeconomic fore-
casts for enrollments have changed,” he says.
“That’s not really relevant for owners who tar-
get the top 100 universities in the country, but
it will have an impact at smaller universities
and colleges.”
“The student housing sector is a small
fraction of the size of the overall multifam-
ily space,” continues
Pierce. “In the four
main commercial real
estate food groups of
office, industrial, mul-
tifamily and retail,
there is so much data
available. As the stu-
dent housing industry
has gone from three,
to two and now one
publicly traded com-
pany, the transparen- CHRIS RICHARDS
cy, research and data Executive Director
is harder to come by. of Real Estate
With American Cam- Operations,
pus Communities as Greystar
the only public com-
StudentHousingBusiness.com
pany, there is one
readily available data
point. Other than what
is available through
third parties, there is a
void in ongoing, con-
stant data collection.”
“EdR going private
was a big step back
for data collection,”
adds Brian Thompson,
founder of Marker
Investments, referring FRED PIERCE
to the take-private CEO,
acquisition of what Pierce Education
was then the nation’s Properties
second largest student
housing company by
Greystar in 2018. “With just one public com-
pany reporting, the sector is even more reliant
on other sources that just aren’t as accurate
and complete as those of a public company.
Those sources are getting better but are not
where they need to be.”
Looking In-House
Most larger student housing operators have
gotten very sophisticated on how they collect
data. Because there is not a large amount of
industry-wide data available, many operators
have traditionally relied on their own his-
toric knowledge and experience with many
properties and markets to create their own
benchmarks.
Greystar collects data from four distinct
sources, according to Chris Richards, execu-
tive director of real estate operations. Those
sources, which are ranked in order of reli-
ability, with the last being only minimally sus-
pect, are — data from resident leasing systems
and property management systems; manually
collected market data stored in an in-house-
developed system; market data received from
several third party companies; and social
media data from large internet companies.
Richards explains that each of these four
data inputs are supervised by a different data/
thought leader. There are also quality control
processes in place to ensure accuracy. “We
release reports that summarize the data, but
we currently don’t share data with anyone
outside of Greystar,” she says. “We especially
DATA
don’t release individual lease data. Data pro-
tection and privacy is a huge overriding con-
cern at Greystar and in the industry.”
Many companies in the industry rely on
their own data to track everything from prop-
erty performance to follow-through on main-
tenance calls.
“We do a market survey every week,” says
Pierce. “We track our pre-leasing and our com-
petition’s pre-leasing every week. The longer
we have been in a market, the more historic
information we have. We have store-by-store
information on a week-by-week basis in many
cases going back several years. With outside
data providers, you often don’t know what
day or week of the month they surveyed. We
rely heavily on our own surveys for property-
level data, but we do look at outside data for
long-term trends such as how the market over-
all in Tuscaloosa is this May versus last May
versus the year before.”
In addition to the quantitative data that the
company collects, Pierce Education Properties
also performs resident focus groups twice per
year, primarily dealing with resident satisfac-
tion. The company also sends its staff onto
campuses to do on-campus intercept stud-
ies, asking students about the market and
their familiarity with its properties in the mar-
ket. This qualitative data is helpful to make
improvements in customer service and at the
properties, says Pierce.
“We are trying to reach out to the general
market with this methodology,” he says. “All
the property level data
we use informs us of
ways to better operate
our properties, evalu-
ate our teams, and
continuously improve
what we are doing so
we can best serve our
customers.”
With privacy a top
concern, the student
housing data sphere
TAYLOR GUNN has been a challenging
Vice President space to navigate. But
of Research and data-gathering and
Analytics, accuracy has improved
CA Ventures in recent years. “Peo-
ple have become more
November/December 2019 83
DATA
willing to share information, and with more
historical information to reference, it’s much
easier to validate accuracy,” says Taylor Gunn,
vice president of research and analytics with
CA Ventures. “Maintaining transparency during
market softness remains a challenge. Those are
the times when data needs to be leveraged the
most. We also need to standardize the data we
report to each other and to third parties as well
as how we examine, interpret and communicate
data. There are many misinterpretations that
can come from data.”
Gunn says CA Ventures collects its own mar-
ket data, tracking its own pipeline and market
surveys and leveraging data from their portfolio
and various software and tools. “We’re always
looking to identify new sources and types of
data,” Gunn says.
Going Outside
The definition of what data should/could be
shared within the industry depends on what
subset one is seeking. Occupancy data is the
most commonly sought-after metric, but other
important data — like the cost per bed for
internet services and other services — are
mostly held internally. Companies may know
84 November/December 2019
what they paid, but they proximity to campus that move the needle on
don’t know what oth- performance, what else separates the most suc-
ers are paying. For ven- cessful properties from the also-rans?” he says.
dors, that’s likely a good “As we move in this direction, we’re able to uti-
thing. But for a growing lize artificial intelligence capabilities we already
student housing owner, use in understanding the conventional apart-
internal benchmarks ment space.”
are tough to rely on Understanding supply information is critical
when there is no out- today. Willett says that with demand waning
side source to use for a at some schools, it becomes more difficult for
comparable. a market to digest more than one or two large
Data for external uses GREG WILLETT new properties in any given year.
— comparable rents and Chief Economist, “It’s important to know not just what product
occupancy — is found RealPage is coming on stream at the same time, but also
through a number of whether there’s been a recent break in construc-
third-party providers. tion that would allow demand to accumulate
Many larger student over two to three years,” says Willett. “It’s also
housing owners and managers also spend con- important to pay attention to what’s happening
siderable resources gathering and analyzing with on-campus construction as some schools
external data. Whether in-house or outsourced, have big deliveries in the works.”
data providers today are examining where and CollegeHouse is a new data company that’s
how to sharpen up. RealPage, for example, is emerged this fall with its sights set on address-
spending quite a bit of time exploring market ing some of the industry’s challenges. Charlie
and property characteristics that influence per- Matthews, co-founder and CEO, tells SHB that
formance, according to Chief Economist Greg data and data interpretation are a relatively
Willett. underserved part of the business.
“While there are well-known features like He says that although companies are collect-
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DATA
ing a lot of information internally, it is helpful
to support internal data with unbiased third-
party data to ensure internal teams are collect-
ing the same information and to explore any
discrepancies.
“Leveraging a second source is a good busi-
ness practice and helps your onsite teams know
that they must ensure the quality of the data is
there — that they’re not just checking a box to
check a box,” says Matthews.
Matthews hopes CollegeHouse will make its
mark by delivering data in a formalized and
consistent visual format; providing more timely
data; and by focusing on a top-down approach
where an entire organization can be in-tune
with what is happening on the ground.
“Every company runs its business differently,
but generally there is no standardized system
that ties together,” says Matthews. “The major-
ity of companies are still somewhat spreadsheet
based; they come in many different formats and
from different sources, through different meth-
ods. I think the industry needs to get behind a
singular format which everyone can utilize.”
Matthews believes that data should be shared
in the same format and system throughout an
organization. In this scenario, a CEO and COO
would be looking at the same information that
regionals and VPs also have at their disposal.
“They’re going to be able to leverage this infor-
mation in their conversations without pulling
one survey from property A and another from
property B. Like a football team, your business
wouldn’t function efficiently if only the quarter-
back knew the play.”
Challenges To Data
According to Richards, the biggest challenge
today is access to data for the operators to use.
Greystar, for one, has begun to use DOMO, a
software that aggregates data from multiple
sources.
“We have the data points being collected, but
being able to comb, sort and search the data
points is a challenge because you need a report
writer. We started using DOMO for our sales and
marketing data collection so we could aggregate
data points and navigate through them. This has
helped, but you still need an expert to set up the
DOMO system for use.”
While the industry and data providers are try-
ing to make strides, there is still a lot of work to
be done. For one, there is not much transaction
data available on investment sales. For a myr-
iad of reasons, many buyers and sellers do not
report sales prices of properties making it dif-
ficult to accurately track and gauge the invest-
ment market. Metrics on historical returns for
student housing properties would be another
item on the wish list for many operators, who
have no comparables but their own portfolios
and historical knowledge.
“There’s no place to go where you can get
current and historic returns for student hous-
86 November/December 2019
What Information and Data is Available
to the Industry?
Whether you are seeking macro data on mar-
kets or trying to refine your marketing and
messaging at a specific property in a com-
petitive market, there are a number of third
parties that offer an array of data to student
housing providers. Here’s a partial list of re-
sources:
Axiometrics — Owned by RealPage, Axio-
metrics offers a number of reports, includ-
ing university-focused market data and its
Axio175 index, which covers 175 student
housing markets across the country. Axiom-
etrics’ data — which includes rental and oc-
cupancy rates — goes to the property level,
which can help when looking at competition
in specific markets. The data rolls to the mar-
ket level as well.
CollegeHouse — This new player on the
student housing scene offers competitive
data at the property level market-by-market.
The company’s model is by-the-market or
national and offers real-time data that is up-
dated regularly.
J. Turner Research — The company produc-
es its trademarked ‘ORA’ scores, which ranks
the online reputations of student housing
(and traditional apartment) complexes. The
company monitors over 120,000 apartment
properties. In addition, the company per-
forms resident surveys and provides bench-
marking reports for clients.
National Apartment Association (NAA) —
NAA offers a Student Housing Lease, using
the same technology and industry-standard
template as the NAA Click & Lease Program.
ing,” says Pierce. “It’s important for investors to
know what a cash-on-cash return or historical
investment rate of returns are. In other sectors,
this is more readily available through NCREIF
(National Council of Real Estate Investment
Fiduciaries).”
Pierce says it would take a significant number
of student housing operators being willing to
submit their information on a regular basis to
create that kind of effort.
Improved data could help developers find the
right markets to build in and address some of
Along with the addenda, the Student Hous-
ing Lease covers the entire rental process and
is reviewed by expert attorneys to ensure le-
gal compliance. It also integrates with exist-
ing property management software.
National Center for Education Statistics
(NCES)— For big picture education data,
many in the industry use the reports avail-
able from NCES, a federal statistical agency
charged with collecting and gathering U.S.
education information. Universities that re-
ceive federal financial aid are required to
complete the common data set for NCES, in-
cluding data on students and enrollment, as
well as tuition and housing costs.
National Multifamily Housing Council
(NMHC) — NMHC produces a biennial Stu-
dent Housing Income & Expense Benchmarking
Survey, which amalgamates operations in-
come and cost data from more than 650 stu-
dent housing properties giving student hous-
ing lenders, investors, owners and managers
financial guideposts against which to mea-
sure both projected and actual performance
results. The Council also has a dedicated fund
within its Research Foundation to conduct re-
search that will help advance the sector. The
first report produced by the Foundation, The
U.S. Student Housing Market: On-Campus, Stu-
dent Housing and Student Competitive, will be
published in January 2020.
Real Capital Analytics (RCA) — RCA col-
lects investment sales data across many com-
mercial real estate sectors, including student
housing.
the industry’s biggest problems, like over-sup-
plied markets, markets with sagging rents, or
finding opportunities in underserved markets.
Matthews says standardizing information is the
key. “If everyone’s looking at the same informa-
tion, it levels the playing field and you can avoid
creating more crowded markets where people
are building just to build. It may help prevent
some markets from becoming over-saturated.”
SHB
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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TOP 25 OWNERS
Student Housing Business’s list of the

Top 25 Owners
Of Student Housing
Student Housing Business conducted its annual survey of the industry’s Top 25 Owners during the fall of 2019. The industry saw a lower volume of transactions this
year, with few large portfolios trading hands and only a little change among the rankings of top owners this year. American Campus Communities remains SHB’s
Number 1 student housing owner (and has been since the ranking’s inception in 2010) with more than 113,000 beds owned; the company increased its number of beds
owned by more than 8 percent over the past year. None of the companies ranked in the Top 5 positions changed rank in 2019. The biggest movers on our list in 2019 by
percentage of bed growth are Core Spaces, who grew by almost 35 percent, moving from Number 23 to Number 20; and Landmark Properties (#11) who moved from
Number 17 in 2018 and grew its bed count by more than 30 percent year-over-year. Also with large year-over-year percentage of portfolio gains are The Preiss Company
(#6), who grew by nearly 22 percent; and Blue Vista Capital Management (#8), who also grew by nearly 22 percent.
SHB requested numbers accurate as of October 31, 2019. Beginning in 2017, we began ranking fund owners alongside operating owners and no longer “net” the beds
owned by the funds in joint ventures. In some instances, this could allow for double-counting of beds, but the co-mingling of beds owned by funds and operators makes
tracking the ownership of beds difficult.
Returning to the Top 25 Owners this year are Timberline Real Estate Ventures (#17) and Columbus Pacific (#23), who did not participate last year. Gilbane Development
also joins the Top 25, moving from Number 27 last year. One company missing from our rankings who owns a significant number of beds (and who likely would rank in
the top 25) is Vie Management who does not participate in the survey due to internal investor disclosure rules.
Data for the survey was completed for properties owned as of October 31, 2019. In some cases, SHB had to contact companies for further information after the survey
was complete, but requested numbers accurate as of October 31, 2019. This survey is produced by Student Housing Business staff. For footnotes on the survey results,
please see page 97. For collection methodology, please see page 90.

2018 Rank: 1 2018 Rank: 3

1 American Campus Communities
12700 Hill Country Blvd., Suite T-200
3 The Scion Group
444 North Michigan Avenue, #2600
Austin, TX 78738 Chicago, IL 60611
americancampus.com TheScionGroup.com
Top Executive: Bill Bayless, CEO Top Executive: Robert D. Bronstein, President
Number of Beds Owned: 113,387 Number of Beds Owned: 55,416
Total Number of Properties Owned: 168 Total Number of Properties Owned: 84
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 128 Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 84
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 40 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 71,730 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 55,416
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 41,657 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 11 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 83
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 7% Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 98%1
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 3% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 97% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 72 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 54
Sample Campuses: Florida State University Arizona State University Sample Campuses: University of Florida, University of Alabama,
Texas Tech University University of Texas-Austin Northern Arizona University of Texas, Purdue University
University
2018 Rank: 4
2018 Rank: 2
4 Greystar
2 Harrison Street
444 West Lake Street
999 S. Shady Grove Rd, Suite 600
Memphis, TN 38120
Chicago, IL 60606 greystarcollegiatehousing.com
harrisonst.com Top Executive: Bob Faith, CEO
Top Executive: Christopher Merrill, Founder, Chairman and CEO Number of Beds Owned: 44,600
Number of Beds Owned: 61,478 Total Number of Properties Owned: 74
Total Number of Properties Owned: 118 Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 57
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 109 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 17
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 9 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 31,800
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 56,026 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 12,800
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 5,452 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 74
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 103 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 88.0% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 2%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 98%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100% Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 45
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 75 Sample Campuses: University of Kentucky, Colorado State, Arizona State
Sample Campuses: Texas A&M University, University of South Florida,
University of Michigan, University of Texas, Northern Arizona University,
University of Minnesota

88 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

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TOP 25 OWNERS
2018 Rank: 5 2018 Rank: 7
5 The Collier Companies
220 North Main St.
6 The Preiss Company
1700 Hillsborough Street
Gainesville, FL 32601 Raleigh, NC 27605
colliercompanies.com tpco.com
Top Executive: Nathan S. Collier, Founder Top Executive: Donna Preiss, Founder & CEO
Number of Beds Owned: 26,590 Number of Beds Owned: 23,384
Total Number of Properties Owned: 51 Total Number of Properties Owned: 41
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 51 Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 41
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 26,590 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 23,384
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 8 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 41
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 17.70% Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 57% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 43% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 30 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 22
Sample Campuses: University of Florida, College of Central Florida, Sample Campuses: North Carolina State University, Clemson
Florida State University Florida A&M University, Rollins College, University, Georgia Southern University, Texas State University,
Daytona State College, University of Tampa, University of South Florida, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, University of Texas at Austin,
University of Oklahoma, University of Georgia, Georgia Southern University of Texas at San Antonio
University
2018 Rank: 8
7 CA Ventures
130 E. Randolph St., Suite 2100
TOP 25 STUDENT HOUSING Chicago, IL 60601
ca-ventures.com
OWNERS RANKING Top Executive: Tom Scott, CEO
2019 # of # of YOY 2018 Number of Beds Owned: 22,146
Rank Company Props Beds Change Rank Total Number of Properties Owned: 48
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 48
1 American Campus Communities 168 113,387 8.21% 1 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
2 Harrison Street 118 61,478 -24.70% 2 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 22,146
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
3 The Scion Group 84 55,416 -8.43% 3 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 43
4 Greystar 74 44,600 -10.17% 4 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 90.4%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 6%
5 The Collier Companies 51 26,590 2.97% 5 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 94%
6 The Preiss Company 41 23,384 19.22% 7 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 37
Sample Campuses: University of Alabama, University of Minnesota,
7 CA Ventures 48 22,146 15.30% 8 North Carolina State University, University of California, Berkeley,
8 Blue Vista Capital Management 33 20,604 21.69% 11 University of Illinois, University of Iowa, University of Texas

9 Campus Advantage 35 20,413 0.00% 6 2018 Rank: 11

10 Vesper Holdings 48 18,905 8.51% 9 8 Blue Vista Capital Management
353 N. Clark St., Suite 730
11 Landmark Properties 32 18,759 31.14% 17 Chicago, IL 60654
12 Campus Apartments 34 17,080 0.09% 10 bluevistallc.com
Top Executive: Jason Schwartz, Managing Principal - Student Housing
13 Park7 Group 24 16,680 13.54% 13 Number of Beds Owned: 20,604
14 Pierce Education Properties 22 14,601 0.00% 12 Total Number of Properties Owned: 33
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 33
15 Aspen Heights Partners 25 14,523 7.00% 14 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
16 FPA Multifamily 41 13,795 21.89% 20 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 20,604
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus:
17 Timberline Real Estate Ventures NR 13,500 N/A NR Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 4
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 16%
18 Horizon Realty Advisors 28 13,340 3.84% 18
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 4%
19 Coastal Ridge Real Estate 20 12,495 -7.93% 15 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 96%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 27
20 Core Spaces 27 12,247 34.65% 23
Sample Campuses: Clemson University, Boston University, University of
21 Campus Living Villages 19 11,256 -0.02% 19 Chicago, University of Southern California
22 Sterling University Housing 18 10,582 -1.11% 21
Student Housing Business conducted the Top 25 Owners
23 Columbus Pacific 13 9,542 N/A NR
of Student Housing survey during the fall of 2019. More
24 University Communities 30 9,000 7.78% 22 than 100 companies were invited to participate, with 45
25 Gilbane Development Company 15 8,735 31.59% 27 completing the survey. SHB requested the exact numbers
and percentages for beds and properties owned as of October
Year-over-year change is based on number of beds reported in 2019 versus 2018. 31, 2019. We requested information based only on properties
NR = not ranked in 2018 Source: Student Housing Business research owned in the U.S. The answers given (Cont’d on p. 92)

90 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

Attract more
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TOP 25 OWNERS

2018 Rank: 6 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0

Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: N/A
9 Campus Advantage
110 Wild Basin Road, Suite 365 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 26.1%
Austin, TX 78746 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
campusadv.com Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Top Executive: Mike Peter, President and CEO Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 21
Number of Beds Owned: 20,413 Sample Campuses: University of South Florida, Texas Tech University,
Total Number of Properties Owned: 35 Iowa State University, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 35 Georgia Southern University
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 20,413 2018 Rank: 17
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 35
11 Landmark Properties
315 Oconee Street
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100% Athens, GA 30601
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0% landmark-properties.com
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100% Top Executive: J. Wesley Rogers, CEO
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 21 Number of Beds Owned: 18,759
Sample Campuses: University of Missouri, University of Central Florida, Total Number of Properties Owned: 32
Louisiana State University Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 32
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
2018 Rank: 9 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 18,759
10 Vesper Holdings Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 30
595 Madison Avenue, 37th Floor
New York, NY 10022 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 99.4%
vesperholdings.com Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 5%
Top Executive: Isaac J. Sitt, Co-CEO Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 95%
Number of Beds Owned: 18,905 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 23
Total Number of Properties Owned: 48 Sample Campuses: Pennsylvania State University, University of Florida,
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 48 University of South Florida, Florida State University, Texas A&M
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 University, University of Georgia
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 18,905

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92 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 STABILITY INCOME TAX SHELTER GROWTH

NB Principals: Over $1 billion in student housing acquisitions*

Over $735M Assets Under Management
10 Full Cycle Properties: 55%+ Total Return**
DST Portfolio: Currently 96% Collective Occupancy (as of June 2019)
*Achieved under predecessor company, NBPRE. ** Seven full-cycle properties achieved under NBPRE.

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(877) 827-NBPC (6272) | www.nbprivatecapital.com
PERFORMANCE COMMUNICATION RELATIONSHIPS

Securities offered through Emerson Equity LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. All investing involves risk.
Past performance not indicative of future results. Emerson and NBPC are not affiliated.
 $97 TOP 25 OWNERS
IN A 0+ M
CQ U I L L I
ISIT ON
2018 Rank: 10

ION 12 Campus Apartments

4043 Walnut St.
S Philadelphia, PA 19104
campusapartments.com
WHERE Top Executive: David J. Adelman, Chief Executive Officer
Number of Beds Owned: 17,080

STUDENT Total Number of Properties Owned: 34

Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 31
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 3
HOUSING Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 16,232
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 848

POTENTIAL
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 6
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 14%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 24%
Meets Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 76%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 50

PERFORMANCE Sample Campuses: University of Pennsylvania, University of

Michigan, University of Arizona, Texas A&M University

INVESTMENT SPOTLIGHT:
The Avenue on College is a 713-bed, 228-unit
community conveniently located
just west of Indiana University
in Bloomington, IN.
Leading National
Student Housing Buyer,
Pierce Education Properties is a major national
investor and operator of student apartments.
Through our acquisitions of core, core plus and
value-added assets, we have:
• Completed more than $970+ million in
acquisitions since 2007, representing
more than 23,000 beds
• Targeting $400+ million in acquisitions over
the next three years
• Developed extensive capital relationships for
best-in-class investment capacity and execution
Our growing team continues to maximize value
through positive investments. We are industry leaders
with proven experience, innovation, and success.
2018 Rank: 13
13 Park7 Group
461 Park Avenue S., Floor 4
New York, NY 10016
Park7Group.com
Top Executive: Ronald Gatehouse, President & CEO
Number of Beds Owned: 16,680
Total Number of Properties Owned: 24
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 24
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 16,680
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: N/R
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 4.3%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 18
Sample Campuses: University of South Carolina, Louisiana State
University (LSU), Arizona State University
2018 Rank: 12
14 Pierce Education Properties
8880 Rio San Diego Drive, Suite 750
San Diego, CA 92108
PierceEducationProperties.com
Top Executive: Frederick W. Pierce, IV, President & CEO
Number of Beds Owned: 14,601
Total Number of Properties Owned: 22
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 22
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 14,601
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 22
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 21
Sample Campuses: University of South Florida, University of
Florida, Florida State University, University of Georgia, Georgia
Tech, University of South Carolina, East Carolina University,
University of Virginia, West Virginia University, Western Kentucky
University, The Ohio State University, Indiana University,
University of Nebraska, Iowa State University, Sam Houston State
University.

to the survey were done so by representatives of the

PIERCEEDUCATIONPROPERTIES.COM
Contact our acquisitions team at 619-297-0400 or email
mmaruccia@PierceEducationProperties.com
to discuss potential opportunities.
94
companies, and therefore Student Housing Business has
no warrants on the accuracy of the data. Where data has
been calculated or assumed by Student Housing Business
due to an error in submission or omission by the source
and based on other data given and not presented in
these pages, a footnote has been made.
November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com
 ENTRATA
STUDENT
Built with student operators, for student operators

SHAPING THE FUTURE

OF STUDENT HOUSING
Entrata.com/student
TOP 25 OWNERS
2018 Rank: 14 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 13,340
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
15 Aspen Heights Partners
1301 S. Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite B201 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 01
Austin, TX 78746 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 0%
ahpliving.com Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 21%
Top Executive: Greg Henry, Chief Executive Officer Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 79%
Number of Beds Owned: 14,523 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 16
Total Number of Properties Owned: 25 Sample Campuses: University of Texas - Austin, Texas A&M, University
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 25 of Tennessee, Notre Dame, Purdue, University of Oregon, Oregon
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 State, Washington State, University of Nevada - Reno, Brigham Young
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 0 University, North Carolina State University, University of Central Florida
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 14,523
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 25 2018 Rank: 15
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
19 Coastal Ridge Real Estate
233 Wilshire Ave., Suite 525
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100% Santa Monica, CA 90401
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 28 coastalridgere.com
Sample Campuses: N/A Top Executive: Jay Harkrider, Managing Partner
Number of Beds Owned: 12,495
2018 Rank: 20 Total Number of Properties Owned: 20
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 20
16 FPA Multifamily
368 Jackson Street Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
San Francisco, CA 94111 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 12,495
fpamf.com Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Top Executive: Gregory Fowler, General Partner Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 20
Number of Beds Owned: 13,795 Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Total Number of Properties Owned: 41 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 41 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 17
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 13,795 Sample Campuses: Notre Dame, University of Florida, University of South
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0 Florida, Arizona State University, Colorado State University
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 01
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 0% 2018 Rank: 23
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 10%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 90%
20 Core Spaces
11401 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 400
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 34 Austin, TX 78758
Sample Campuses: Mississippi State, Florida State, Univeristy of Texas, corespaces.com
John Hopkins, UCSB, USD, Auburn, UC Riverside, Iowa, Colorado Top Executive: Marc Lifshin, Founder and CEO
State, Chico State, Louisiana State University, Univeristy of Tennessee, Number of Beds Owned: 12,247
Univeristy of Georgia, Univeristy of Minnesota Total Number of Properties Owned: 27
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 27
2018 Rank: NR Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 12,247
17 Timberline Real Estate Ventures
555 Theodore Fremd Avenue, Suite B-302 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Rye, NY 10580 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 26
timberlinerev.com Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 99.91%
Top Executive: Andrew Stark and Nathaniel Fowler, Principals Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 26%
Number of Beds Owned: 13,500 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 74%
Total Number of Properties Owned: 221 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 17
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 22 Sample Campuses: University of Arizona, University of South Carolina,
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 University of Alabama, Michigan State, University of Florida, University
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 13,500 of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Penn State
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 221 2018 Rank: 19
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 5%
21 Campus Living Villages
1001 Fannin Street, Suite 1350
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 95% Houston, TX 77002
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 25 campuslivingvillages.com
Sample Campuses: University of Maryland, Georgia Tech, San Diego State Top Executive: John Schroder, Group Managing Director
University Number of Beds Owned: 11,256
Total Number of Properties Owned: 19
2018 Rank: 18 Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 3
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 16
18 Horizon Realty Advisors
601 Union Street, Suite 1401 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 2,639
Seattle, WA 98101 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 8,617
horizonra.com Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 01
Top Executive: Greg Beckel, Mike Strand, Tim Smith, Rob Marshall, Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 0%
Partners Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 0%
Number of Beds Owned: 13,340 Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 100%
Total Number of Properties Owned: 28 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 17
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 28 Sample Campuses: University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign, Temple
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 University

96 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 TOP 25 OWNERS
2018 Rank: 21 2018 Rank: 22
22 Sterling University Housing
3411 Richmond, 5th Floor
24 University Communities
4500 Cherry Creek Drive South, Suite 1200
Houston, TX 77046 Denver, CO 80246
dinersteincompanies.com ClosestToCampus.com
Top Executive: Brian Dinerstein, President Top Executive: Lee Ryder, President
Number of Beds Owned: 10,582 Number of Beds Owned: 9,000
Total Number of Properties Owned: 18 Total Number of Properties Owned: 30
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 18 Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 30
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0 Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 10,582 Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 9,000
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0 Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 18 Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 30
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100% Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 16% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 30%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 84% Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 70%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 14 Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 20
Sample Campuses: University of Michigan, Texas A&M, University of Sample Campuses: University of Minnesota, University of Washington,
California, Berkeley Arizona State, University of Wisconsin

2018 Rank: NR 2018 Rank: 27

23 369 East Livingston Ave.
Columbus Pacific
Columbus, OH 43215
columbuspacific.com
Top Executive: Brian Shirken and Rick Margolis, Co-Founders &
Principals
Number of Beds Owned: 9,542
Total Number of Properties Owned: 13
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 13
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 9,542
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 01
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 30%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 70%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 17
Sample Campuses: University of Arizona, Community College, Texas
Tech, Lubbock Christian College, Ohio University, Texas A&M,
Mississippi State, University of Mississippi, University of Virginia, Penn
State, Ohio State University
25 Gilbane Development Company
7 Jackson Walkway
Providence, RI 02903
gilbaneco.com/development
Top Executive: Edward T. Broderick, President and CEO
Number of Beds Owned: 8,735
Total Number of Properties Owned: 15
Number of Properties Owned Off-Campus: 14
Number of Properties Owned On-Campus: 1
Number of Beds Owned Off-Campus: 7,505
Number of Beds Owned On-Campus: 1,230
Number of Properties Owned in Joint Ventures: 3
Percentage of Beds Owned in Joint Ventures: 24%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Unit: 14%
Percentage of Portfolio Operated by the Bed: 86%
Number of Colleges/Universities Where Properties are Located: 12
Sample Campuses: Iowa State University, Towson University
Footnotes:
1
In some cases, respondents omitted data or had errors in their submissions that
could be calculated from other data provided. This answer has been assumed by
SHB based on data provided by the company.

WHO’S CLOSE?
Narrowly missing our Top 25 rankings were these companies:
26 27 28 29 30
2018 Rank: 24 2018 Rank: NR 2018 Rank: 29 2018 Rank: 26 2018 Rank: NR
Student QuarterS CapStone real eState nB prIvate CapItal Crow HoldIngS CapItal waypoInt real eState
Number of Beds Owned: 8,351 InveStmentS Number of Beds Owned: 7,788 Number of Beds Owned: 7,541 InveStmentS
Total Number of Properties 402 Office Park Dr, Suite 150 Total Number of Properties Total Number of Properties Number of Beds Owned: 6,928
Owned: 33 Number of Beds Owned: 8,253 Owned: 23 Owned: 11 Total Number of Properties
Total Number of Properties Owned: 14
Owned: 20

Top Private Equity Fund Owners

Rank Among Top 25 Number of
Fund Owners Rank Company Headquarters beds
1 2 Harrison Street Real Estate Capital Chicago 61,478
2 11 Blue Vista Capital Management Chicago 20,604
3 NR Heitman Chicago 18,000
4 NR Goldman Sachs & Co. New York City 14,013
5 NR Blackstone New York City 10,604
NR = not ranked

StudentHousingBusiness.com November/December 2019 97

TOP 25 MANAGERS

Student Housing Business’s list of the

Top 25 MANAGERS
Of Student Housing
Student Housing Business ran its annual survey of the Top 25 Managers of Student Housing during the fall of 2019. The prevalent trend of investors moving to
professional operators continued this year, with year-over-year growth posted by many managers. Our top mover — for the second year in a row — was Cardinal
Group Management, who grew nearly 40 percent (the company grew by more than 30 percent from 2017 to 2018). Cardinal’s growth propelled the company into
the Top 5 Managers. Redstone Residential, who also posted a near 40 percent growth in 2018, grew by more than 17 percent from 2018 to 2019. Two companies join
the Top 25 Managers this year: Core Spaces and Capstone Real Estate Investments, who did not participate in 2018’s survey.
Two large managers not on the Top 25, and who likely would rank, are Campus Life & Style, the management entity of Vesper Holdings, and Vie Management.
These companies do not participate due to internal disclosure rules. SHB made one large change to our manager’s survey this year, clarifying the definition
of “beds under management” to mean operational and opened beds, foregoing beds under development and lease-up for fall 2020 and beyond. As a result,
some operators may show smaller growth percentages when compared to 2018 and in the third-party management rankings. For a complete breakdown of the
methodology, please see page 106. For footnotes related to some of the data, please see page 104.

2018 Rank: 1 2018 Rank: 3

1 American Campus Communities
12700 Hill Country Blvd, Suite T-200
3 Greystar
999 S. Shady Grove Rd, Suite 600
Austin, TX 78738
americancampus.com
Top Executive: Bill Bayless, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 140,339
Total Number of Properties Managed: 205
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 138
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 76,819
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 67
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 63,520
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 82%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 26,952
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 2%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 98%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 93
Sample Campuses: Arizona State University, University of California,
Irvine, Texas Tech University, University of Texas-Austin, Florida State
University
Memphis, TN 38120
greystarcollegiatehousing.com
Top Executive: Bob Faith, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 64,300
Total Number of Properties Managed: 109
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 89
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 49,500
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 20
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 14,800
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 68%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 19,700
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 2%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 98%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 68 campuses
Sample Campuses: University of Kentucky, Southern California,
University of Texas, University of Arizona, Texas A&M, Florida State,
Colorado State, Baylor University

2018 Rank: 2 2018 Rank: 4

2 950 Corbindale Road, Suite 300
Asset Living
Houston, TX 77024
assetliving.com
Top Executive: Ryan McGrath, CEO and President
Total Number of Beds Managed: 135,103
Total Number of Properties Managed: 251
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 251
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 135,103
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%1
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 135,103
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 5%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 95%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: Near 125
Sample Campuses: Florida State University, University of Central Florida,
Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Penn State
4 The Scion Group
444 North Michigan Avenue, #2600
Chicago, IL 60611
TheScionGroup.com
Top Executive: Robert D. Bronstein, President
Total Number of Beds Managed: 58,175
Total Number of Properties Managed: 86
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 84
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 55,416
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 2
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 2,759
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 95%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 2,759
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 56
Sample Campuses: University of Alabama, University of Florida,
University of Georgia, Purdue University

98 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

TOP 25 MANAGERS
2018 Rank: 8
5 Cardinal Group Companies
4100 E. Mississippi Ave., Floor 15
TOP 25 STUDENT HOUSING MANAGERS
Denver, CO 80246
2019 # of # of YOY 2018
cardinalgroup.com
Rank Company Properties Beds Change Rank2
Top Executive: Del de Windt, Chief Executive Officer
Total Number of Beds Managed: 53,564 1 American Campus Communities 205 140,339 5.41% 1
Total Number of Properties Managed: 159
2 Asset Living 251 135,103 2.03% 2
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 150
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 52,053 3 Greystar 109 64,300 1.15% 3
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 9 4 The Scion Group 86 58,175 -6.38% 4
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 1,511
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0% 5 Cardinal Group Management 159 53,564 38.68% 8
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 6 Peak Campus 102 52,118 -0.68% 5
53,189 7 COCM (Capstone On-Campus Management) 79 36,429 1.59% 6
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%1
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100% 8 The Preiss Company 71 32,913 0.23% 9
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 95 9 Campus Advantage 61 32,392 -2.75% 7
Sample Campuses: The University of Texas at Austin,
Louisiana State University, The University of Oregon, East
10 Landmark Properties 61 30,280 5.75% 10
Carolina University, University of Southern California, 11 Redstone Residential 80 28,834 17.27% 12
University of Minnesota, San Diego State University 12 The Collier Companies 51 26,590 2.88% 11
2018 Rank: 5 13 Corvias 18 21,451 15.79% 15
14 Campus Apartments 38 20,032 -10.12% 13
6 Peak Campus
2970 Clairmont Rd, Suite 310 15 CA Management Services 38 17,242 0.91% 16
Atlanta, GA 30329
peakcampus.com 16 Park7 Group 24 16,680 13.54% 20
Top Executive: Robert Clark, President & CEO 17 Aspen Heights Partners 30 16,244 0.75% 18
Total Number of Beds Managed: 52,118
18 Pierce Education Properties 24 16,212 0.00% 17
Total Number of Properties Managed: 102
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 8 19 Pinnacle Campus Living 37 15,360 -20.63% 14
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 48,222 20 Coastal Ridge Real Estate 22 13,797 2.25% 21
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 94
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 3,896 21 Campus Living Villages 21 13,691 -7.31% 19
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%1 22 Core Spaces 29 13,423 N/A NR
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 23 Horizon Realty Advisors 29 13,340 3.84% 22
52,118
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 5% 24 Sterling University Housing 18 10,582 5.50% 25
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 95% 25 Capstone Real Estate Investments 22 9,485 N/A NR
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 74
NR = not ranked in 2018
Sample Campuses: Clemson, East Carolina, Florida 2
See footnote on page 104
State, Michigan State, Middle Tennessee State University,
University of South Carolina, Texas A&M, Texas State
University, University of North Carolina at Charlotte,
University of Alabama, University of Arkansas, University TOP 15 THIRD-PARTY MANAGERS
of Chicago, University of Indianapolis, University of
Kentucky, University of Minnesota, University of Southern Third-Party 2019 Beds Under
California, Youngstown State University Rank Rank2 Company Third-Party Mgmt.

2018 Rank: 6 1 2 Asset Living 135,103

2 5 Cardinal Group Management 53,564
7 COCM
1500 Urban Center Drive, Suite 400 3 6 Peak Campus 52,118
Vestavia Hills, AL 35242
cocm.com 4 7 COCM (Capstone On-Campus Management) 36,429
Top Executive: Doug Brown, President 5 11 Redstone Residential 28,834
Total Number of Beds Managed: 36,429
Total Number of Properties Managed: 79 6 1 American Campus Communities 26,952
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 0 7 3 Greystar 19,700
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 79 8 15 CA Management Services 17,242
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 36,429 9 9 Campus Advantage 16,615
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 10 19 Pinnacle Campus Living 15,360
36,429 11 10 Landmark Properties 11,607
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 2%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 98% 12 8 The Preiss Company 9,529
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 40 13 29 NB Private Capital 7,788
Sample Campuses: University of Maryland, Florida Atlantic
University, East Stroudsburg University 14 28 RISE: A Real Estate Company 7,333
15 NR Management Services Corporation 3,139
NR = not ranked
2
See footnote on page 104 Source: Student Housing Business research

100 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com


2018 Rank: 9
8 The Preiss Company
1700 Hillsborough Street
11 Redstone
2483 North Canyon Road
Raleigh, NC 27605
tpco.com
Top Executive: Donna Preiss, Founder & CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 32,913
Total Number of Properties Managed: 71
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 71
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 32,913
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 71%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 9,529
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 43
Sample Campuses: North Carolina State University East Carolina
University Clemson University Georgia Southern University Sam
Houston State University Texas State University University of Central
Florida University of North Carolina at Charlotte University of North
Carolina at Wilmington University of Texas at Austin University of
Texas at San Antonio
2018 Rank: 7
9 Campus Advantage
110 Wild Basin Road, Suite 365
12
Austin, TX 78746
campusadv.com
Top Executive: Mike Peter, President and CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 32,392
Total Number of Properties Managed: 61
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 58
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 31,325
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 3
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 1,067
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 50%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 16,615
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 4%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 96%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 44
Sample Campuses: University of Florida, University of Central Florida,
University of Oregon, Michigan State University, University of Texas
2018 Rank: 10
10 Landmark Properties
315 Oconee Street
Athens, GA 30601
landmarkproperties.com
13
Top Executive: Wes Rogers, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 30,280
Total Number of Properties Managed: 61
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 61
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 30,280
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 30%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 11,607
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 98%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 2%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 46
Sample Campuses: Pennsylvania State University, North Carolina State
University, University of Connecticut, University of Michigan
StudentHousingBusiness.com
TOP 25 MANAGERS
2018 Rank: 12
Residential
Provo, UT 84604
redstoneresidential.com
Top Executive: Grant Collard, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 28,834
Total Number of Properties Managed: 80
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 80
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 28,834
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 01
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 01
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%1
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 28,834
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 20
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 80
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 18
Sample Campuses: Brigham Young University, Brigham Young
University-Idaho, Dixie State University, Utah Valley University,
University of Nevada - Reno, Chico State, Sacramento State, University
of North Texas, Arizona State, UC Santa Barbara, University of Oregon,
Washington State University, Utah State University, University of
Colorado - Boulder, Queens University
2018 Rank: 11
The Collier Companies
220 North Main St.
Gainesville, FL 32601
colliercompanies.com
Top Executive: Nathan S. Collier, Founder/Owner
Total Number of Beds Managed: 26,590
Total Number of Properties Managed: 51
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 51
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 26,590
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 100%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 0
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 57%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 43%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 30
Sample Campuses: University of Florida, Florida State University,
University of Central Florida, Rollins College, University of Tampa,
University of South Florida, University of Oklahoma, University of
Georgia, Georgia Southern University
2018 Rank: 15
Corvias
1405 South County Trail
East Greenwich, RI 2818
corvias.com
Top Executive: John Picerne, Owner
Total Number of Beds Managed: 21,451
Total Number of Properties Managed: 18
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 0
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 18
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 21,451
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 3%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 0
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 39%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 61%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 50
Sample Campuses: Georgia State University, Howard University, Wayne
State University
November/December 2019 101
TOP 25 MANAGERS
2018 Rank: 13
14 4043 Walnut St.
Campus Apartments
Philadelphia, PA 19104
campusapartments.com
Top Executive: David J. Adelman, Chief Executive Officer
Total Number of Beds Managed: 20,032
Total Number of Properties Managed: 38
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 34
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 17,788
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 4
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 2,244
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 89%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 2,952
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 24%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 76%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 50
Sample Campuses: University of Pennsylvania, University of Michigan,
University of Arizona, Texas A&M University
2018 Rank: 16
15 CA Management Services
130 E. Randolph St., Suite 2100
Chicago, IL 60601
ca-ventures.com/ca-management-services/
Top Executive: Steve Boyack, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 17,242
Total Number of Properties Managed: 38
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 38
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 17,242
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%1
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 17,242
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 4%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 96%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 43
Sample Campuses: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University
of Texas, Columbia College, Kendall College, University of Iowa
2018 Rank: 20
16 Park7 Group
461 Park Ave. S.
New York, NY 10016
Park7Group.com
Top Executive: Ronald Gatehouse, CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 16,680
Total Number of Properties Managed: 24
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 24
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 16,680
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 100%
Top Third-Party On-Campus Managers
Third-party Top 25
on-campus rank 2019 Rank Company
1 7 COCM (Capstone On-Campus Management)
2 1 American Campus Communities
3 28 RISE: A Real Estate Company
4 6 Peak Campus
5 4 The Scion Group LLC
102 November/December 2019
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 0
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 18
Sample Campuses: University of South Carolina, Louisiana State
University (LSU), University of Nevada, Reno
2018 Rank: 18
17 Aspen Heights Partners
1301 S. Capital of Texas Hwy, Suite B201
Austin, TX 78746
ahpliving.com
Top Executive: Greg Henry, Chief Executive Officer
Total Number of Beds Managed: 16,244
Total Number of Properties Managed: 30
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 29
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 16,031
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 1
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 213
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 89%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 1,721
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 33
Sample Campuses: N/A
2018 Rank: 17
18 Pierce Education Properties
8880 Rio San Diego Drive, Suite 750
San Diego, CA 92108
PierceEducationProperties.com
Top Executive: Frederick W. Pierce, IV, President & CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 16,212
Total Number of Properties Managed: 24
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 24
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 16,212
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 90%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 1,611
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 23
Sample Campuses: San Diego State University, University of Arizona,
University of New Mexico, San Houston State University, Iowa State
University, University of Nebraska, Kansas University, Ball State
University, Indiana University, Purdue University, Central Michigan
University, The Ohio State University, Miami University (OH), Western
Kentucky University, West Virginia University, University of Virginia,
East Carolina University, University of South Carolina, University of
Georgia, Georgia Tech, Florida State University, University of Florida and
University of South Florida
On-campus
third-party managed
36,429
21,863
5,656
3,896
2,759
StudentHousingBusiness.com
we will

N COMPROMISE
EVER
WHEN IT COMES TO
OUR INTEGRITY
TOP 25 MANAGERS
2018 Rank: 14 2018 Rank: NR
19 Pinnacle Campus Living
5055 Keller Springs Road, Suite 400
22 Core Spaces
11401 Century Oaks Terrace, Suite 400
Addison, TX 75001 Austin, TX 78758
pinnaclecampusliving.com corespaces.com
Top Executive: Ted Broadfoot, Executive Vice President Top Executive: Marc Lifshin, Founder & CEO
Total Number of Beds Managed: 15,360 Total Number of Beds Managed: 13,423
Total Number of Properties Managed: 37 Total Number of Properties Managed: 29
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 37 Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 29
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 15,3601 Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 13,423
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 01 Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 01 Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 0%1 Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 91%
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 15,360 Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 1,176
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 3% Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 24%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 97% Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 76%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 27 Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 18
Sample Campuses: Texas State University Sample Campuses: University of Arizona, University of South Carolina,
University of Alabama, Michigan State University, University of Florida,
2018 Rank: 21 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Penn State
20 Coastal Ridge Real Estate
233 Wilshire Ave, Suite 525 2018 Rank: 22
Santa Monica, CA 90401
coastalridgere.com
23 Horizon Realty Advisors
601 Union Street, Suite 1401
Top Executive: Jay Harkrider, Managing Partner Seattle, WA 98117
Total Number of Beds Managed: 13,797 horizonra.com
Total Number of Properties Managed: 22 Top Executive: Greg Beckel, Mike Strand, Tim Smith, Rob Marshall, Partners
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 21 Total Number of Beds Managed: 13,340
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 13,047 Total Number of Properties Managed: 29
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 1 Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 29
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 750 Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 13,340
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 95% Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 1,302 Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0% Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 100%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100% Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 0
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 19 Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 21%
Sample Campuses: Notre Dame, University of Florida, University of South Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 79%
Florida, Arizona State University, Colorado State University Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 16
Sample Campuses: Notre Dame, Purdue, Washington State, BYU,
2018 Rank: 19 University of North Texas, University of Texas - Austin, Texas A&M,
University of Oregon, Oregon State University, University of Nevada
21 Campus Living Villages
1001 Fannin Street, Suite 1350 - Reno, North Carolina State University, University of Central Florida,
Houston, TX 77002 University of Southern Florida, University of California - Riverside,
campuslivingvillages.com Sacramento State University
Top Executive: John Schroder, Group Managing Director
Total Number of Beds Managed: 13,691
Total Number of Properties Managed: 21
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 3
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 2,639
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 18
To order an instant PDF of this list,
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 11,052
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 82%1
please visit:
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 2,435
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 0%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 100% www.studenthousingbusiness.com/
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 18
Sample Campuses: University of Illinois- Urbana Champaign (Champaign, top-25
IL); Temple University (Philadelphia, PA)

Footnotes:
1
In some cases, respondents omitted data or had errors in their submissions that could be calculated from other data provided. This answer has been assumed
by SHB based on data provided by the company.
2
SHB required companies to report beds managed as beds opened and operating as of October 31, 2019 (in the past, some companies had counted beds under
construction in lease-up as managed beds; this methodology was not allowed in 2019’s survey). As a result, some companies may show smaller year-over-year
growth when compared to 2018’s numbers.

104 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 1 0T H A NN UA L

STUDENT HOUSING
BUSINESS
®

I NNOVATOR AWARD S
The Student Housing Business Innovator Awards are designed to honor excellence in all aspects of
student housing, both on- and off-campus.

The 2020 Innovator Awards will be presented on Wednesday, April 8th, at the 12th annual InterFace
Student Housing Conference in Austin, TX. The deadline to submit entrees is February 14, 2020.

O n - Camp us Categor ies of f- C am p us C ate g or ies

Best New Development
Best Architecture/Design
Best Use of Green & Sustainable Construction/
Development
Best Renovation of Existing University/Housing
Best Public/Private Partnership Development
Best New Development
Best Renovation of Existing Project
Best Implementation of Mixed-Use in
New Development or Renovation
Best Architecture/Design
Best Use of Green & Sustainable
Best Vendor/Operator Solution
Best Bandwith/Connectivity Solution
Best Package and Offering of
Amenities
Best In-House Management
Innovation

Best Public/Private Financing Solution Construction/Development Best Marketing & Lease-Up Program

Best Implementation of Mixed-Use or Live/Learn Best Financing Solution Best Social Media Campaign

Best Vendor/University Solution Best Turnaround Project/Value-Add Best Mobile Marketing Campaign

C on tac t I nfo rm ation

Randy Shearin • 404-832-8262 • randy@francemediainc.com

s t u d e n t h o u s i n g b u s i n e s s.c o m / awa r d s
TOP 25 MANAGERS
2018 Rank: 25 2018 Rank: NR
24 Sterling University Housing
3411 Richmond, 5th Floor
25 Capstone Real Estate Investments
402 Office Park Dr., Suite 150
Houston, TX 77046 Birmingham, AL 35223
dinersteincompanies.com capstonerealestateinvestments.com
Top Executive: Brian Dinerstein, President Top Executive: Christopher Mouron, Principal / EVP - Acquistions &
Total Number of Beds Managed: 10,582 Development
Total Number of Properties Managed: 18 Total Number of Beds Managed: 9,485
Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 18 Total Number of Properties Managed: 22
Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 10,582 Number of Properties Managed Off-Campus: 22
Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0 Number of Beds Managed Off-Campus: 9,485
Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0 Number of Properties Managed On-Campus: 0
Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 100% Number of Beds Managed On-Campus: 0
Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 0 Percentage of Managed Portfolio Owned By Company: 93%
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 16% Number of Beds in Third-Party Management Portfolio: 752
Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 84% Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Unit: 7%
Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 15 Percentage of Portfolio Managed by the Bed: 93%
Sample Campuses: UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Texas A&M Number of Campuses Portfolio is On/Near: 17
Sample Campuses: Florida State University, Miami University, Duke
University, University of Southern Mississippi

Student Housing Business conducted the Top 25 Managers of Student Housing survey during fall 2019. More than 100 companies were invited to participate in
the survey, with 39 qualified companies responding. We asked respondents to be thorough and accurate in taking the survey; SHB requested exact numbers and
percentages, and requested results be based only on properties managed in the United States. The answers given to the survey were done so by representatives of the
companies, and therefore Student Housing Business has no warrants to the accuracy of the data. Where the data has been calculated or included by Student Housing
Business because of an error or omission by the source and based on other data given by the company but not presented in these pages, a footnote has been made.

student housing. elevated.

16 STATES 3 COUNTRIES 1 MISSION

Our goal from the beginning has been to work harder and work
smarter than the other guys. 10 years, 80 properties, and 28,000 beds
later, nothing has changed. Find out what makes Redstone different.
redstoneresidential.com

106 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

TOP 25 MANAGERS

WHO’S CLOSE?
Rounding out the Top 30 Managers:

26
2018 Rank: 27
University CommUnities At COCM, our only business is partne with campuses and owners
Total Number of Beds Managed: 9,000 to provide third-party student housing management services.
Total Number of Properties Managed: 30
This focus, and the trust placed in us by our partners to serve as their
fiduciary, has enabled us to become the number one third-party
27 er of on-cam
2018 Rank: 26
HomesteadU
Total Number of Beds Managed: 8,752
Total Number of Properties Managed: 12

28
2018 Rank: 24
rise: a real estate Company
Total Number of Beds Managed: 8,493
Total Number of Properties Managed: 23

29
2018 Rank: NR
nB private Capital
Total Number of Beds Managed: 7,788
Total Number of Properties Managed: 23

30
2018 Rank: NR
tHe miCHaels organization
Total Number of Beds Managed: 5,922
Total Number of Properties Managed: 10

To order an instant PDF of this list, which

includes the Top 30 Owners, please visit:
www.studenthousingbusiness.com/
top-25.html
W W W.CO C M .C O M | 2 0 5 . 4 1 4 . 6 4 5 0
To be included in our Top 25
Owners Survey in 2020, contact COCM (Capstone On-Campus Management) is a
company of talented student housing professionals
Randall Shearin, Editor, at focused on providing management and consulting
randy@francemediainc.com services solely for on-campus housing communities.

We are dedicated to helping our partners leverage

campus housing to do greater things: recruit and retain
students, and enhance student success and satisfaction.

StudentHousingBusiness.com November/December 2019 107

 SPECIALADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISING SECTION

PROFILES IN

ARCHITECTURAL & DESIGN

EXCELLENCE
Student housing design has evolved beyond form and function. Today,
universities and private developers seek to design projects that are just as
much about students’ lifestyles and experience as they are about being
a place to live. Creating environments that accomplish the basic goals of
housing while also fostering socialization, academic and emotional growth
is the new bar for great architecture and design.

In this special section, Student Housing Business profiles some of the leading
firms in student housing architecture and design, featuring their projects and
the people behind them.
 ADVERTISEMENT

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New York City-based ARCHITECTMEDIA has one goal: excel at bringing amenity-
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“Our clients look to us as a key strategic partner to help ensure their visual
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The ARCHITECTMEDIA approach leverages a fine-tuned workflow that’s efficient,

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“At the end of the day,” Mr. Whitworth explains with a smile, “we know we’ve
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APOLLO Tempe AZ
Renderings, 360 VR Pano Tour, VT Animation & 360 VR Video 401 Broadway 23rd Floor New York NY 10013 www.architectmedia.com
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Charlan · Brock · Architects

Charlan · Brock · Architects (CBA) is driven by the
singular goal of Impacting Lives Together. CBA strives
for excellence by assisting clients in fulfilling their vision
through a collaborative, empowering environment.
Established in 1980, the Florida-based full-service
architectural firm specializes in all forms of multi-
family residential, student housing, and mixed-use
developments.
Mary Moltzan,
AIA, LEED AP
Over the past four decades, CBA has developed a laser
BD+C
sharp focus on meeting the ever-changing needs of the
development industry with attention to all markets, pricing and intensities
in the housing sector. Due to their passion and integrity, CBA has proudly
become the go-to firm for incorporating housing of all types into mixed-use
and town centers throughout the nation. ln addition, CBA also concentrates
on assisting both private and municipal clients as they determine how to
arrange a multitude of uses into cohesive, vibrant, successful communities
or design solutions.

Through each and every project, CBA has the same overall goals: to nurture
and maintain a clear project vision, to maximize the effectiveness of every
team member, and facilitate access to technical expertise and creativity.
As a result, CBA has created a highly collaborative process flow, forming
close relationships with their clients as well as outside consultants, before
and during construction. The majority of CBA’s design and construction
document work is performed in REVIT, which provides a much more
comprehensive design documentation and allows everyone on the team to
understand the solution through three-dimensional modeling.

TENN Student Living | Knoxville, TN
257 Thayer Street | Providence, RI
ADVERTISEMENT
CUBE 3
CUBE 3 is a nationally recognized design industry and innovation
leader, providing advanced solutions in architecture, interior design, and
planning. With headquarters in Lawrence, MA, and additional offices in
Boston and Miami, FL, the firm’s work can be seen in over 25 states
across the United States.
In 2019 we were ranked as one of the Top 500 Design Firms worldwide
by ENR, and classified by Architectural Record as one of the Top 300
Architectural Firms in the United States. We consistently work with the
strongest development teams in the region, and our dedicated and Nik Middleton,
diverse staff of over 120 employees accommodates a wide range of RIBA
planning and design needs while delivering consistent and exceptional Founding and
project work. Senior Partner/
CEO
CUBE 3 specializes in mixed-use and campus master planning, academic,
health care, retail, residential, and corporate office space. As of. September 1, 2019, we have
designed / built over 50 student housing environments, including 8,000 units built, 70,000 beds
designed and 17M sf master planned.
Our innovative, cost-effective design solutions balance and support the needs of college
students while meeting the goals of university administration with modern student health
centers, dining facilities, and residence halls.
Notable projects:
TENN Student Living | Knoxville, TN
600 Beds | 280,000 sf
IIDA of New England Design Award: Best in Student Housing
257 Thayer Street | Providence, RI
267 Beds | 150,000 sf | LEED Silver Certified
Student Housing Business Innovator Award: “Best New Development under 300 Beds”
Northeastern University’s LightView | Boston, MA
798 Beds | 310,000 sf | 22 Stories
Pursuing LEED Platinum certification

Forum Architecture & Interior Design
Forum Architecture & Interior Design,
Inc. is an employee-owned, full service
architectural firm based in Altamonte Springs,
Florida (Orlando), specializing in planning,
architecture and interior design. Founded in
1986, Forum is a recognized national leader
and award-winning design firm. The firm
focuses primarily on multi-family, student
housing, senior housing, clubhouses, resort,
hospitality and commercial markets.
The 9 @ Gainesville Units: 179
Beds: 691
www.ForumArchitecture.com
ADVERTISEMENT
Forum’s student housing designs are always
forward thinking and address a wide variety of
demographics and regional preferences. Our recent
student housing work includes Union on Fletcher,
NINE at Gainesville and NINE at Tallahassee.
NINE at Gainesville recently won a Grand Aurora
Award for Best Campus Housing. Our apartment
designs efficiently balance students’ personal and
shared space and are conducive to individual lease
management.
Developer: 908 Group Union on Fletcher
Year Built: 2018
Forum Architecture & Interior Design, Inc.
Forum understands today’s students and
we design housing to meet their desires,
as well as the needs of property managers,
so they may provide a secure and well-
running community. Technology, safety,
eco-friendly living spaces, socialization
areas, privacy versus communal spaces,
transportation and parking, all play major
roles throughout our design process.
www.ForumArchitecture.com
Units: 217 Developer: Greystar
Beds: 640 Year Built: In progress 2020
The 9 @ Tallahassee
Tallahassee, FL
237 S Westmonte Drive, Suite 220
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
407-830-1400
#AA0002731
 ADVERTISEMENT

Humphreys & Partners Architects

Humphreys & Partners Architects (HPA) is a Dallas-
based full-service architectural and planning firm with
civil engineering, landscape architecture, and interior
design services. Over 25 percent of HPA’s business is
devoted solely to designing innovative student housing
solutions with 150,000+ student beds delivered to date.

“We are innovators and team players,” Greg Faulkner,

Greg Faulkner
President of HPA, says. “We work with each client
President
Octave Units: 167 individually to meet their program, goals, and budget,
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Completion Date: Summer 2019
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Developer: Gilbane

Student housing is continually evolving and becoming increasingly

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Founded on its work in the residential sector, Niles Bolton
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designed 70,500+ beds on over 70 campuses and 42,000+ beds
of off-campus housing nationwide.
Centennial Lofts Units: 239 Brian Ward, AIA
Georgia Institute of Beds: 750 LEED AP,
The company is currently involved with on-campus projects
Technology Completion: August 2021 Director of
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Communities In addition, NBA is actively involved with off-campus developments at
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STUDENT INSIGHTS

College Students & Social Media

Twitter is back, Facebook fades and TikTok is making moves.

S
By The Black Sheep

The Black Sheep has partnered with SHB

to share insights every issue about students
interests and habits. In fall 2019, we surveyed
over 1,250 students across the nation to under-
stand what social media platforms are being
used most by college students. Understanding
media consumption and brand interaction
across social media platforms is critical for
student housing properties as they aim to
effectively target 18- to 22-year olds.

About The Survey

This survey was distributed via social media
at 65-plus schools for two weeks in fall 2019,
gaining 1,254 total responses. The incentive
for finishing the survey was to be entered into
a drawing for a $100 Uber gift card.
Consistencies help bolster the validity of
this survey by showing it’s accurate in several
cases. For example, the breakdown of types
of devices used were nearly identical to the
results gathered the year before as this is an Tiers of Media Use
annual survey we conduct. Those indicators This year’s survey demarcated three distinct
along with a representative sample size leads tiers of media use, with Tier 1 ranking highest
us to the conclusion that the results seen are in terms of popularity and Tier 3 ranking low-
valid and should be interpreted as representa- est. Here’s what we found:
tive of the population of all college students. • Tier 1 - Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat
• Tier 2 - Facebook and YouTube
Survey Demographics • Tier 3 - Pinterest, TikTok, Reddit and
Twitch

Interaction by Platform
Now that we know what platforms students
are using the most, let’s dive into how this
demographic is interacting on these platforms.

Instagram
Ad interaction on Instagram is pretty evenly
split — 51 percent surveyed said they click
on ads at least once per-month, whereas 48
percent said they never click on ads. When it
comes to stories, 98 percent of students said
they watch stories from their friends at least
once per month, and 78 percent of students
said they watch stories from brands at least
month per month.
Key Takeaway: If you’re running ads on
Instagram, the key is to keep the content
native and authentic. The bigger opportunity
is to use your feed to gain followers through
engaging content and capitalize on the popu-
larity and viewership of stories to promote
your property to those same followers.
Twitter
While 36 percent of users say they click on
ads on Twitter at least monthly, 63 percent
say they never click on ads on this platform.
The clickthrough rate is actually higher than
expected given the negative view of ads on
Twitter. That said, 42 percent of users interact
with other users on a daily basis, 29 percent on
a weekly basis and 15 percent on a monthly
basis — meaning 86 percent of Twitter users
interact with other users at least once per
month.
Key Takeaway: Unlike Instagram, you can’t
just run ads on Twitter. Instead, you need to
build a feed students want to follow, and then
use that feed to interact with students in an

118 November/December 2019 StudentHousingBusiness.com

 STUDENT INSIGHTS
authentic way to build a relationship.

YouTube
Only 27 percent of students click on ads on
YouTube, but the fact that most videos will
require you to watch the first five to 15 sec-
onds of an ad ensures visibility. Over 60 per-
cent of respondents watch comedy/sketches,
vloggers or music on YouTube, so identify-
ing trending clips helps you get in front of
viewers.
Key Takeaway: YouTube has some of the
best targeting capabilities out there. If you
know what your potential resident is watch-
ing or finds interesting, you can target your ad
on a very granular level to get in front of your
audience.

TikTok
The most surprising stat from those sur-
veyed is that 33 percent of students spend
more than an hour on TikTok every time they
use it. Additionally, 94 percent of students
who use TikTok will use the platform at least
once a week.
Key Takeaway: Although it’s advertising
options are in its infancy, TikTok is worth
keeping an eye on and experimenting with
internally. The fact that 21 percent of college
students already use the platform less than a
year after it launched in the U.S. shows it has
tremendous potential.

Interesting Historic Takeaways

• The rise of Twitter from fourth place two
years ago to being tied for first this year is
an increase in usage by 80 percent of stu-
dents to usage by 94 percent of students.
• This year saw a major drop in the popular-
ity of Facebook, which is down nearly 20
percent in usage from two years ago.
• Instagram has stayed strong over the past
two years, which indicates there are differ-
ent Facebook and Instagram users and not
a switch from one platform to another.

The Bottom Line

The world of social media is always chang-
ing, so having a strong mix of platforms to use
for different strategies is important. Based on
this data, it’s important to remain strong on
Twitter (direct interaction), Instagram (native
content and stories) and Snapchat (targeted
brand awareness), while exploring YouTube
and TikTok. Facebook continues to drop in
popularity and does not appear to be an effec-
tive platform to reach 18- to 22-year olds. Now
that you have the right mix, ensuring your
content resonates is the next step. SHB

The Black Sheep is a college marketing and media

company that helps student housing properties
and national brands reach college students at
over 200 schools across the nation.

StudentHousingBusiness.com November/December 2019 119

STUDENT OPINION
Student Confidential
College students across the country offer a no-holds-barred commentary on their student housing
experience.
I
Discussion moderated by Laurie Provin
In mid-November University Furnishings
and Student Housing Business brought together
several college students for a no-holds-barred
discussion about their student housing expe-
rience in a webinar titled Student Confidential.
Participants discussed the good, the bad and
the ugly — beginning with their experience
searching for a new place to call home, and
covering everything that happened until
move out.
Provin Laurie Provin, marketing direc-
tor at University Furnishings, led the dis-
cussion with Sean, a student attending the
University of Tennessee; Ally, who attends
the University of Washington; Mary Kate at
Temple University; Wes, attending Auburn
University; and August, a student at Texas
State University. The following transcript is a
segment of the discussion.
Provin: Which is more important to you,
affordability or amenities?
Ally: Affordability all the way. I’m looking
for a great deal and Seattle has ridiculously
high rents in certain places — especially in the
University District. My roommate told me the
other day that the hot tub at the apartment is
the main reason she signed the lease, but for
me personally, it’s definitely affordability.
Provin: Does anyone disagree and value ame-
nities over affordability?
Provin: I’ll take your silence as a no. On our
survey, 79 percent of respondents said that
affordability is more important than ameni-
ties. I think this is a shift we’re seeing from
the heyday of over-the-top amenities. I’m not
really surprised by these results. Twenty-one
percent still said amenities are important.
From reading some comments and answers,
I think what’s really important to them is a
balance between affordability and amenities.
While affordability is most important, they’re
not willing to forego all amenities for sake of
rent. Does that seem a fair assessment, that
you want a balance?
August: I think that’s fair. If you’re going to
have luxurious amenities, the rent needs to
reflect that in a fair way. I would sit down and
say ‘does this amount of amenities really justi-
120 November/December 2019
fy the amount of rent asked?’ For most people,
affordability is more important, but you still
have to have amenities. If you’re going to have
them, it needs to be justly priced.
Sean: I agree. I think it’s more of a ques-
tion of value and if you’re getting what you
pay for. It’s an interestingly worded question.
Amenities are a second priority definitely but
they are something people value. It’s a fine
line and a balance.
Mary Kate: My friends and I are paying our
tuition and rent ourselves, so most people I
know don’t really care about amenities unless
it’s something like having an efficient response
to utility problems.
Ally: I have to weigh amenities against what I
have around me. For example, my apartment
provides free internet. I paid internet at my
old apartment and it can be around $75 per
month. So I’m thinking about that and if it
adds up. I’m looking for that balance — if it’s
worth my money.
Sean: It’s location dependent. A pool in down-
town Seattle or Philadelphia is going to be a
lot more expensive to have but it’s going to
give the student the same amount of enjoy-
ment. As far as their value is concerned, it’s
going to be tougher to get more out of it in a
densely populated area.
Provin: Please rank in order of importance
to you the following features or amenities.
(Furnished apartment, fitness center, study
areas, pet-friendly, package lockers, hobby
rooms and pool)
Wes: For me, I would definitely go with fur-
nished apartment because lugging furniture
is a hassle and I really don’t care to do that.
Another factor is that at Auburn, our tuition
includes access to the rec center and the pool,
which is phenomenal. So I never use the fit-
ness center at my apartment because it can’t
compare to what the school already offers.
Even the pool doesn’t compare. But if Auburn
didn’t offer those, I would prioritize pool and
fitness center more.
Provin: Does anyone have a pet? Is pet-friend-
ly important?
Sean: One of my roommates has a German
Shepherd, so we need it.
Ally: I don’t have a pet, but I do know my
apartment allows emotional support animals
as long as they’re certified through a doctor.
On the fitness center topic, the University
of Washington also has an incredible fitness
center. The only issue is that it’s a mile and a
half away from my apartment. So for a lot of
students choosing to live here, having a fitness
center in the apartment is important so they
don’t have to make the trek to the gym. Plus,
it’s smaller, quieter and less busy.
Provin: Are you still going to the front desk to
get package deliveries? Or does anyone have
package lockers?
Ally: We utilize Luxer lockers in our
community.
August: I also have lockers, which is prefer-
able to going to the office at a certain time. It
gives you a lot more freedom. I think that’s
really important.
Provin: In the results, the most important
apartment amenity is a furnished apartment.
Provin: Who is the decision maker when it
comes to choosing your apartment?
Mary Kate: I made the decision.
Ally: At the end of the day, it’s me. My parents
pay my rent so I do include them in the deci-
sion making. They ask if I can be academically
successful at the apartment, and if so, they
support me.
Provin: That’s pretty much what we found
across the survey. Fifty percent said they
make the decision with input from parents
and guardians. Twenty-eight percent said
they make the decision themselves, while 19
percent make the decision with input from
friends. Do you all feel your parents are giving
you a lot of decision-making power?
Sean: Absolutely. My parents aren’t really
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STUDENT OPINION
involved at all in terms of paying
for or selecting the apartment. But
I would depend on my friends to
help me decide.
Provin: Anyone’s parents decide
for them?
August: I ultimately decide, but
I moved in with my friends who
already had a place. Even if you
are making the decision your-
self, you are influenced by other
factors.
Provin: Who pays your rent?
August: I pay my own rent. I’m a
full-time student and I work full
time at a pizza shop. I pay rent,
utilities, car payment and phone
bill.
Provin: Who is getting help with
their rent?
Wes: My parents are currently
paying my rent.
122 November/December 2019
Ally: Same here. I do hold jobs to
help out, but it’s predominantly
my parents.
Provin: What about other living
expenses?
Ally: Yes, I cover everything else.
They just pay for rent.
Wes: My parents pay for most of
my necessities, but I do have a job
to help pay for things.
Provin: What could your apart-
ment community do to make the
leasing process easier?
Ally: The opportunity to fill out
my lease on my own time and
read it so that I know what I’m
getting into and can make an
informed decision. My apartment
is pretty good; they do a good
job of getting information out to
residents.
August: My number one thing is
feeling transparency between us
and leasing agents. The process
can be grueling with those large
documents. I’d rather sit down
with someone and I’d like them
to go over it with me so I can
be more informed about fees or
policies.
Sean: I think there should be an
emphasis on relationship build-
ing. It seems like we’re moving
away from people knowing who
their landlord is. Now it seems
like an anonymous person is hav-
ing you sign to live there. I think
that is something that should be
emphasized heavily.
Provin: I heard a lot of that in the
survey. The most common answer
was better and more communica-
tion. An interesting response was
having different move-in days
for different rooms and floors to
reduce chaos and crowding. A lot
of respondents said their renewal
notices are coming too soon and
they’re not ready to re-commit.
Have any of you found yourselves
in that situation?
Ally: Yes, it’s important to me.
We have a quick turnaround with
respect to leasing. It can be intimi-
dating to have to sign a lease so
soon. It puts pressure on residents.
Provin: Is there something that
could alleviate that pressure?
What about a two-tier renewal
for residents who know they are
going to renew?
Ally: I’m sure that would help,
but it is the way it is. Demand for
housing in Seattle is so high. We
have so many students looking
on- and off-campus. I’m not sure
it’s logistically possible, it might
be one of those things you just
have to deal with.
Provin: If you could change one
thing about your apartment, what
would it be?
Sean: I would want maintenance
requests to be filled faster than
they currently are. But that’s
nit-picky; I like most everything
about my apartment complex.
Ally: The apartment complex
itself is great. The one thing in the
unit is that the couch is split down
the middle, making it moveable.
But you end up falling between
there all the time so it’s not great.
Mary Kate: I don’t think I would
change anything. I like it a lot.
Wes: For me, I also agree with
Ally about the couch. But I would
change the quality of the mainte-
nance. I feel like things aren’t fixed
well. My apartment was painted
and there is paint on the floor so
they didn’t do a good job. I have
maintenance requests unfulfilled.
I still have two doors that are bro-
ken. The numbers don’t work on
my microwave. My apartment
had to hire a maintenance service
because it was so terrible.
August: Bigger balconies. I like
to go outside. Mine is just a thin,
sliver concrete slab. I like to have
friends over. SHB
StudentHousingBusiness.com

Navigating Insurance
And Property Taxes
Self-advocacy is the key to proper insurance coverage and property tax assessments.
A
By Amy Works
As 2019 comes to a close, Student Housing
Business reached out to experts in the student
housing insurance and property tax niches to
discuss the best ways operators and owners
can ensure proper and adequate insurance cov-
erage and efficiently manage property taxes.
On the insurance side, Andrew Haake
of Lockton Cos., Charles Peterson of Piton
Insurance Group & Financial Services and
Ronald Diskin of Ronald Diskin Associates
shared their expertise and tips to navigating
the current insurance environment.
For property taxes, Kevin McCune of Ryan
LLC shared insight on the increasingly chal-
lenging property tax environment, from ini-
tial assessments to challenges and budgeting
for reassessments and tax increases.
A Tightening Insurance Market
After 10 plus years of rate suppression, the
property and casualty market is now seeing
an inversion of rates, explains Andrew Haake,
senior vice president with Chicago-based
Lockton Cos.
However, the current insurance environ-
ment is not the result of a single shift in the
market, but a culminative effect of multiple
factors that has decreased carrier profitability.
“Insurance carriers make money through
investing, creating a delicate balance that in
a healthy market can mask high-risk under-
writing,” notes Charles Peterson, president of
Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Piton Insurance.
Everything from the political climate and
interest rates to weather and natural disas-
ters can affect the profitability of insurance
carriers and that outcome trickles down and
impacts insurance rates and coverage options
for student housing operators.
The current dynamics are driven by
decreased carrier profitability that is the result
of years of declining rates, a persistent low
interest-rate environment, rising claim sever-
ity and the increased frequency of large natu-
ral catastrophe losses, Haake notes.
However, it’s key to note that the tightening
is not a result of reduced market capacity, but
rather carriers refining how they deploy their
capital,” adds Haake.
Despite these challenges, there are ways
StudentHousingBusiness.com
SMARTER OPERATIONS
owners can secure
insurance policies that
offer proper coverage
and risk mitigation,
as well as potential
savings.
Partner With A
Student Housing
Specialist
When seeking out
insurance coverage, it’s KEVIN MCCUNE
crucial for operators Director of Property
and owners to align Tax,
themselves with experi- Ryan LLC
enced insurance agents
and carriers. As with most facets of the indus-
try, insuring student housing properties is
unique in terms of the requirements, risks and
possible savings.
Partnering with financially-stable insurance
carriers with a track record of honoring con-
tracts and efficiently dealing with claims in
the student housing realm is the best way to
ensure a property will be properly insured
with adequate coverage for a variety of issues.
“From installing the newest risk mitigation
technologies and safety measures to requiring
parental guarantees and renters insurance in
the lease-up cycle, an experienced agent will
be able to highlight potential savings and
endorsements, as well as possible high-risk
factors, through all aspects of the develop-
ment and operation process,” says Peterson.
One important option to look out for is
extended business income for student hous-
ing properties, which have a unique lease-
up and business cycle when compared to
conventional multifamily assets. Ensuring a
property is adequately covered for any pos-
sible revenue loss from a poor lease-up cycle
or missing a critical move-in date could easily
make or break a property’s bottom-line.
East Hanover, New Jersey-based Ronald
Diskin Associates offers insurance pack-
ages tailored to student housing properties
and includes 18 months of loss of business
income, flexible payment options and a vari-
ety of savings for proactive owners, includ-
ing discounts for smoke-free complexes or
designated smoking areas, a 7 percent credit
for installing stove top fire suppression devic-
es and other safety measures, notes Ronald
Diskin, founder.
“The investment in fire suppression devic-
es, or SmartBurners, reduces cost, tenant dis-
ruption and protects claim history,” explains
Diskin. “They are easy to install and use, and
you will save thousands of dollars by keeping
the inevitable cooking fire from happening or
from spreading to other units, while prevent-
ing tenant lawsuits.”
Peterson expands on the benefits of part-
nering with an experienced student housing
insurance agent or broker, explaining that in-
depth knowledge of the sector enables agents
to suggest or remove exclusions, educate car-
riers on the specifics of the student housing
market, or recommend endorsements or other
savings options.
“Consulting with a student housing-
focused agent at every stage of a project, from
development through daily operations, will
ensure a property is adequately and properly
covered from an insurance standpoint and
could also lead to additional savings and dis-
counts for the owner,” says Peterson.
Anything from installing a National Fire
Protection Association (NFPA) 13 system
instead of a NFPA 13R layout to requiring
renters insurance, which in some situations
allow owners to take larger deductibles with
spreads on each unit with a renters policy, can
led to potential insurance savings, as well as
better protected properties.
“Thoroughly understanding the ins-and-
outs involved in student housing insurance
coverage, especially the advantages to requir-
ing renters insurance, and having an expe-
rienced agent advocate for your property is
paramount to obtaining the best coverage for
a property,” Peterson adds.
Be Insurance-Minded
Keeping insurance on the front burner dur-
ing all aspects of property development, man-
agement and programming is critical to help-
ing keep costs down and ensure a property or
event is adequately insured.
Insurance is not a one-size-fits-all option.
November/December 2019 123
SMARTER OPERATIONS
Geographical location, a prop-
erty’s age and amenity package,
and resident programming may
all play into insurance coverage
and terms.
Haake suggests identifying
factors that are driving probable
maximum loss (PMLs) and tak-
ing steps to manage the impact
on premiums, such as bringing
in engineers to evaluate risks,
which in turn helps underwrit-
ers determine the optimal pro-
gram structure and pricing for a
property.
Understanding the latest risk
management and technologies
available to owners and man-
agement teams is also a criti-
cal component of the insurance
game. Whether it’s retrofitting
an existing property or devel-
oping a new community with
stove-top fire suppression devic-
es, water or moisture detection
devices or other risk mitigating
technologies, having an insur-
ance-focused mindset can led to
potential savings, endorsements
and discounts.
The overall cost savings of
these devices typically outweigh
the initial installation costs, notes
Peterson.
For Raleigh, North Carolina-
based The Preiss Company,
requiring renters’ insurance for
all tenants is standard across the
company’s more than 60 student
housing properties — a require-
ment that has supplemented
insurance coverage and reduced
some claims.
“In the instance that we have
repairs that are caused by resi-
dents, to the extent it is appli-
cable, we will look to their rent-
ers insurance to offset the costs,”
explains Chad West, chief finan-
cial officer, The Preiss Company.
“If that is not applicable, we will
charge the residents for anything
they had a direct cause in.”
Be a Self-Advocate
Whether working with an
experienced student housing
insurance agent or carrier or not,
owners and operators should
be prepared to tell a property’s
story.
Being a self-advocate and
explaining to insurance carriers
what requirements, including
renters insurance and parental
124 November/December 2019
CHARLES PETERSON
President,
Piton Insurance
guarantees, educational pro-
grams or other risk mitigation
measures, such as fire suppres-
sion and leak detection technolo-
gies, are in place at a property
can lead to more favorable rates
and coverage offerings. Student
renters are often a high-risk mar-
ket, but proactive operators and
property management teams can
help reduce some risks through
education, awareness and lease
requirements.
As an owner and operator, The
Preiss Company has ample expe-
rience with the first-time renters
market. West notes that although
students may tend to make poor
decisions, the company’s rent-
ers insurance requirements have
played a large role in eliminating
substantial risks at its properties.
Operators and property man-
agement teams should outline
and explain any proactive steps
they are taking to mitigate poten-
tial risks at a property. Whether
requiring parental guarantees,
renters insurance or educational
programming for first-time rent-
ers, or a combination of require-
ments and programs, Peterson
explains that making the insur-
ance carrier aware of any pro-
active measures is favorable for
insurance premiums and cover-
age options.
Another component to self-
advocacy is providing the most-
accurate data and information to
underwriters during the evalua-
tion and pricing process. When
underwriters and insurance car-
riers have all the puzzle pieces
they are able to better assess and
understand the potential risks
a property may cover, as well
as how a property management
team may proactively mitigate
risks.
Forecasting for Insurance
While natural disasters, and
even resident-caused incidents,
are rarely predictable, preparing
for such incidents is crucial to
successfully operating a student
housing business and keeping
an insurance-focused mindset in
all aspects of development and
operations is a good buffer for
the future.
Engaging and educating stu-
dent residents on the respon-
sibilities of renting, requiring
parental guarantees and renters
insurance, implementing safety
measures and ensuring proper
protocol for any incidents helps
owners be proactive in the liabil-
ity and damages realm and ulti-
mately creates a positive envi-
ronment for offsetting potential
issues and risks.
“As insurance costs continue to
go up given the larger losses —
floods, fires, etc. — hitting prop-
erties in the United States, we
are continually looking at other
ways to address risks to keep cost
increases at the lowest level pos-
sible,” explains West.
Property Tax Wisdom
Along with insurance, property
tax assessments for student hous-
ing properties have their own set
of unique factors and a proper
understanding of these challeng-
es is paramount to ensuring an
appropriate assessment.
Kevin McCune, director of
property tax with Dallas-based
Ryan LLC, has a range of advice
and tips for owners and opera-
tors before, during and after an
assessment.
Keep Data Close
First and foremost, owners and
management teams should pro-
tect their data, and this warn-
ing extends to sale information,
property financial information
and recapitalization efforts.
Control over data is critical and
the importance of knowing what
information to reveal and what
should be protected cannot be
overstated, according to McCune.
McCune even recommends
considering non-disclosure
agreements from all stakeholders
in any deal — buyer, seller, joint
venture partners, broker, lender,
debt appraiser, etc.
“Understanding what, if any,
information is required to be fur-
nished either with a sale or upon
the request of an assessor is vital
to ensuring you are not hand-
ing anyone involved the keys to
increase your assessment,” he
explains.
A structured and well-thought-
out plan to control the data flow
of the property, transaction or
other aspects should be crafted
by ownership or in conjunction
with an experienced property tax
advisor, McCune adds.
Be Proactive
Owners should review assess-
ments and the methodologies
used by local assessors on every
property they operate on an
annual basis. McCune notes that
potential investments are getting
harder to pencil these days, in
large part due to increasing and
uncertain property tax assump-
tions in many areas.
In most markets, assessments
can be appealed annually — even
if there was not a reassessment.
Implementing a full detailed
review annually will help opera-
tors to find potential savings; and
oftentimes, finding every avail-
able dollar is key to ensuring
ownership can hit its required
rates of return.
“Everyone in the space knows
a market can turn up or down
aggressively in one year based
on changes in supply, univer-
sity requirements or changes
in enrollment trends,” says
McCune. “These are all items
that must be reviewed each year
to adjust and possibly push an
appeal to achieve tax savings.”
Know Your Audience
A critical aspect of the assess-
ment process is understanding
the audience for each property
assessment and appeal process.
Taking the time to know who is
handling a property’s assessment
or appeal process, and who an
operator will have an on-going
relationship with, can lead to a
more positive outcome for both
property owner and tax assessor.
Understanding where the
assessors are coming from, what
information they have, what
information they don’t have,
StudentHousingBusiness.com

and looking for holes in their
analysis and data may make the
processes smoother for everyone
involved, notes McCune.
While owners are cautioned to
keep data close, knowing when
and where to share data, espe-
cially local market demograph-
ics, typically results more accu-
rate property tax assessments.
“Tracking local market data on
current market vacancies, con-
cessions, expense rates, reserves
and cap rates can afford own-
ers a strong basis in adjusting
assessor’s models in a property
owner’s favor to lower an asset’s
assessment,” says McCune.
This, combined with under-
standing a tax assessment
office’s approach to value and
assumptions, and being able to
back-up off-base assumptions
with data, is key to managing
property taxes.
Budget for Property Taxes
Since many jurisdictions do
not assess annually, understand-
ing when to expect changes in
assessment is vital both pre- and
post-acquisition, as well as dur-
ing a possible disposition. It is
crucial for an owner to under-
stand how long it may be able
to expect nominal or no change
in an assessment, and when it
could expect to see increases.
McCune shared an example
from a property in Charlotte,
North Carolina, this year. It was
reassessed in 2019 for the first
time in eight years.
“Think about that, not only
the duration of eight years, but
what the national economy was
in 2009-2010, which is the data
utilized in this reassessment,” he
says.
The notified values of the over-
all commercial real estate assess-
ments for Mecklenburg County,
North Carolina, increased over
70 percent, and student housing
was increased on average more
than 112 percent, he explains.
“Now imagine what your
budget and return metrics look
like if you’re not forecasting for
reassessments,” he adds.
Watch for Appropriate Comps
The ever-increasing amount
of available data on student
housing properties is often a
StudentHousingBusiness.com
double-edged sword for prop-
erty owners during assessments.
While some of the increased data
may shine a light on the unique
aspects of student housing, other
data may be utilized incorrectly
in property valuations for tax
purposes.
McCune notes that the dras-
tic differences between markets
are not often considered by
assessors or auditors reviewing
comparable properties for valu-
ations. This process is not dis-
similar to many owners’ experi-
ences with appraisals done in
conjunction with debt, equity
or investment-purpose assess-
ments where it is not uncommon
to see sales extraction and cap
rate data pulled from other mar-
kets with little to no thought of
adjustment.
“This is a dangerous concept
and must be adamantly refuted,
and the property owner or tax
consultant must explain why
THREE GREAT WAYS T O G ET YO UR IND UST RY NEWS
STUDENT HOUSING
BUSINESS
®
MARCH/APRIL 2019
BEHIND GREYSTAR’S
BIG PLAY CEO Bob Faith on the EdR deal,
international opportunities and the
future of the student housing sector.
PLUS:
TOP INVESTORS IN STUDENT HOUSING
RANKING THE MOST ACTIVE DEVELOPERS
TIPS FOR GROWING ANCILLARY INCOME
A LOOK AT TROUBLED MARKETS
Magazine
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Randy Shearin at randy@francemediainc.com
SMARTER OPERATIONS
ANDREW HAAKE
Senior Vice
President,
Lockton Cos.
certain used or applied data is
irrelevant or should be omitted
from consideration,” he explains.
Partner with Experts
Property taxes can be a difficult
road to navigate, which makes
partnering with an experienced
tax consultant that knows the
business and has relationships
with local officials, appraisers
W ebsit e
To send us your news, please email:
Katie Sloan at ksloan@francemediainc.com
and auditors a good strategy.
Additionally, seasoned stu-
dent housing tax consultants
understand the ins-and-outs of
the market, and can help educate
local assessment offices that may
not understand the significant
valuation differences between
student housing and conven-
tional multifamily properties.
Turn, ongoing maintenance
and CapEx expenses, additional
amenities and other risk factors
often drive student housing cap
rates above that of multifamily
properties, explains McCune.
“This often leads to the over-
valuation of these properties by
local assessors,” he says. “We
recommend owners monitor
these assessments by partner-
ing with a representative with an
understanding of student hous-
ing operations, university opera-
tions and trends, and local-level
property tax administration.”
SHB
Ne ws let ter
November/December 2019 125
WHAT’S ON MY MIND
Back to the Future in Student Housing
How affordability and profitability can coexist within a changing development landscape.
T
By Jason Schwartz
The Back to the Future trilogy has always held a
special place in my pantheon of all-time 1980’s
classics. My psyche was forever rocked by the
concept of the Sports Almanac in Back to the
Future II. For those that may not remember
this cult classic, the Sports Almanac was the
answer key to every sporting event that had
ever occurred and it was used by Biff Tannen,
who went back in time and gave a copy to his
younger self for nefarious purposes. Investing
in real estate may not be exactly like sports
gambling but, looking back over the last 20
years, there are many Almanac-like tips I wish
I could go back as ‘Old Biff’ and impart to my
younger self.
High up on the list would be investing in
college town real estate. Forget investing in
the four main real estate food groups; in fact,
no need to build anything at all. Instead, just
buy up as much developable land as you
can find adjacent to “Power 5” four-year
non-profit universities and wait. Be patient
during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) and
know that your golden ticket was about to
be cashed in as the student housing devel-
opment boom was upon us. The post-GFC
explosion in student housing development
has forever changed the landscape of many
large college campuses and, not coinciden-
tally, has also aided in the retirement plans
for many local landowners.
Looking back before the post-GFC devel-
opment boom, purpose-built student hous-
ing was still in its infancy. When Blue Vista
raised its first student housing fund in 2006,
it was the first of its kind. Never before had
a firm raised an institutional fund for a rifle
shot approach to invest in student housing,
an asset class that was barely on the radar
screens for most institutional investors. At
that time, we thought that we were building a
luxury product at rents averaging $500-$600
on new developments. Little did we know
then that we were just helping set the foun-
dation for future innovation. Today, average
rents for our new developments could be 50
percent higher than what we built just 10-15
years ago. Over time, that beta version of
student housing has been replaced by gen-
erations of newer and better designs and
extensive amenity packages. Equally impor-
tant, firms began to pay up for land that was
just steps away from campus. Location was
everything and astute developers jumped
on this bandwagon, paying whatever it cost
to own the best dirt in the best markets.
126 November/December 2019
The result: an explo-
sion of investment suc-
cess. Maybe the top
student housing devel-
opers didn’t have the
Almanac handy but it
sure seemed like they
at least had the Cliff’s
Notes!
JASON
Looking forward,
SCHWARTZ
I wonder what the
Managing Principal,
Student Housing
Blue Vista
Almanac could tell our
Capital
generation about how
Management
to be successful invest-
ing in student housing
over the next 20 years.
I would be especially interested to read the
chapter about how our industry overcame
the mounting concerns about affordability.
Most of the product that has been built post-
GFC has been geared towards the high-end
of the market, mainly targeting wealthy out-
of-state families, Greek life and international
students. This strategy has been largely suc-
cessful to date as that target demographic
had been underserved and was more than
willing to pay up for the newest and best
housing available. That’s probably a good
thing, too, given the marked increase in costs
prevalent in all aspects of construction (i.e.
labor, materials, tariffs). The ensuing ame-
nity race was a necessity to justify the record
rents required to support the case for new
construction.
Despite a phenomenal track record as an
industry over the past decade, I think about
how our collective mindsets must shift mov-
ing forward to remain successful. The billion-
dollar question may be how can new projects
meet the needs of a wider swath of tomor-
row’s students while also being a profitable
enterprise for the development community?
One strategy is to reduce the cost of a new
development to improve the affordability of
the ultimate product offering. Several trends
support that agenda:
• Vertical integration of the construction
supply chain is upon us. Firms like
Prescient and Katerra bring a manufac-
turing mindset to the construction pro-
cess in an effort to eliminate inefficien-
cies. By vertically integrating design,
supply of materials and construction
in a unified offering, they can provide
process standardization to developers
that translates into improved produc-
tivity and quality at a lower cost.
• Micro units, especially in urban mar-
kets, are becoming a compelling hous-
ing alternative. Offering efficient units
that still include bed/bath parity to
students at a much lower total square
footage, while providing extensive
common area spaces and amenities, is
now more acceptable than ever before.
While efficient, these are not the dorm
spaces from which students are try-
ing to escape. Rather, the independent
living nature of the housing and indi-
vidual bedrooms offer something that
upper classmen and graduate students
desire, especially if it can be provided
at a reduced rental rate.
• A positive trend is that some munici-
palities are reducing parking require-
ments to match actual demand, which
continues to decline to levels never
seen before in the multifamily indus-
try. Ride sharing, scooters and more
infill walkable projects all contribute
to this phenomenon. Reduced parking
equates to reduced construction costs
and lower rents for residents.
Another strategy worth pursuing is the
redevelopment of old but well-located prop-
erties that can be acquired below replacement
cost. An extensive renovation program could
take a property that is currently functionally
obsolete due to its layout, lack of amenities
and/or quality of finishes and reposition it
as a value alternative with modern finishes
and amenities. This could appeal to students
seeking quality housing in Class A locations
at a more affordable price point and it also
accomplishes this feat without adding more
supply into a given submarket.
In reality, one probably doesn’t need access
to an all-knowing Back to the Future Almanac
to know that affordability is a vital challenge
that our industry faces. I have no doubt that
we will innovate and collaborate to bring
about changes needed to make student hous-
ing development a profitable strategy for
years to come. In the motivating words of
Doc Brown, “your future hasn’t been written
yet — no one’s has. Your future is whatever
you make it. So make it a good one.” SHB
Jason Schwartz is a managing principal at Blue
Vista Capital Management and oversees the
student housing investment platform.
StudentHousingBusiness.com
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