Student Housing Business

JAN-FEB 2017

Student Housing Business is the voice of the student housing industry.

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MARKET PROFILE: COLUMBIA January/February 2017 StudentHousingBusiness.com 68 Cranes Over Columbia Development continues to spread throughout the home of the University of South Carolina, from on- and off-campus projects to a large-scale redevelopment of the city's waterfront. By Katie Sloan A As with many cities surrounding flagship public universities, Columbia has seen strong investor interest and hardy off-campus devel- opment over the last few years. What sepa- rates the South Carolina capital from the pack, however, is a steady demand for develop- ment. Enrollment at the University of South Carolina is growing each year, and with it, an unwavering need for housing both on and off campus. "So far in Columbia, we have seen about 4,000 new beds built in the market over the past three years with more on the way," says Dale Callison, vice president of property man- agement at Core Spaces, which opened Hub at Columbia — an 848-bed high-rise — in 2014. "Recently, the city has seen a big push to revitalize Main Street — desiring a thriving downtown," says Callison. "It's really opened up the market to opportunities for student housing to move closer to campus and give the students some added value and choice for their housing." Development is happening throughout the city, with a handful of projects delivered in fall 2016. But while the supply of beds continues to increase, so does the population of students looking for housing. Investor interest continues to grow in Columbia, too, with a recent acquisition by institutional investment firm TH Real Estate signifying the strength of the market. The last- ing power of the boom in development plays hand-in-hand with the continued growth of the university. If enrollment slows, some developments may face challenges in what could become an over-developed market. Development Continues "We've had very strong enrollment growth over the last several years," says Kirsten Kennedy, executive director of university housing at the University of South Carolina. "In 2009, we were at about 4,000 first–year stu- dents. This past year, we were at about 5,200. We're hoping to maintain that growth at about 100 new students per year." With such increasing numbers, Kennedy notes that the university has not been able to house the same level of freshmen, sophomore, junior and senior students on-campus as it once did. Today, the on-campus population tends to consist predominantly of first-year students. "A greater proportion of our buildings are occupied by first-year students and other groups that we require to live on-campus," says Kennedy. "Currently, we focus on being a transition from living with mom and dad to living independently. We feel like that's our role for students, and then off campus housing is really sort of that jumping off point to living independently." In order to keep up with the growing num- ber of first-year students, the university has a request for proposal out on a public-private partnership that would add an additional 2,500 beds to the south portion of the univer- sity's campus. "We're calling the project Campus Village," says Kennedy. "In total, the overall develop- ment is slated to include around 3,740 new and refurbished beds, and will offer predominant- ly suite-style units, with a mix of apartments and pod-style units with smaller bathroom groups." Off-campus developers have taken notice of the growing enrollment numbers and deliv- ered five new student housing communities for the current school year. Recent deliveries included Park Plaza, a 640-bed community by Park7 Group; Station at Five Points, a 660-bed community by Peak Campus; Phase II of 650 Lincoln, a community developed in phases by Holder Properties of Atlanta; Apartments at Palmetto Compress, a 307-bed community by PMC Property Group; and The Tremont Apartments, a 224-unit development by One Eleven Apartments. "We're always looking to expand in Columbia," says John Holder, chairman and CRG is set to begin construction on a new 16-story student housing development in between the Central Business District and The Vista entertainment district in downtown Columbia.

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