Student Housing Business is the voice of the student housing industry.
Issue link: https://studenthousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/488341
IN THE DE VELOPMENT, ACQUISITION & MANAGEMENT OF UNIVERSIT Y HOUSING. L E A D E R S is a development, acquisition & management firm dedicated to the creation of authentic communities in university markets across the United States. Managed under the University House brand, each communit y is built and operated to the highest standard. UNIVERSITY HOUSE COMMUNITIES is now U H c o m m u n i t i e s . c o m INVESTMENT MARCH/APRIL 2015 44 ronment coupled with a strong interest in the space is pushing demand. "As the space has become a mainstream investment class, more investors are recogniz- ing student housing as anoth- er industry in which they can invest and enjoy great yield," says Dorothy Jackman, man- aging director of Colliers International's National Student Housing Group. Looking ahead, in 2015, many groups who have expressed an interest in the space in the past are now actively seeking invest- ments, or have made purchas- es. These include groups like GMH Capital Partners, who has formed a venture with Principal Real Estate Investors that is tar- geting to acquire up to $650 mil- lion over the next 18 months. The venture acquired Sterling Frisco near the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville early this year. The 640-bed Class A project is LEED-Gold certifed. Others making a big push into the space include Starwood Capital, men- tioned above, and Candlebrook Properties, who launched a stu- dent housing brand, Letter9, in the fourth quarter of 2014 after a $240 million acquisition of 3,000 student housing beds. "There are also a lot of conven- tional multifamily buyers who are tired of being 30th on a bid list for a conventional multifam- ily deal who may also be seeking a little less competition and they are now looking at the student space," says Chris Epp, principal with FourPoint Student Housing Investments. Investment brokers in the sec- tor say that nothing comes to market that does not sell, show- ing there is incredible interest across all classes of product in the sector. "I haven't found a deal yet that we can't fnd a buyer for," says Epp of 2015's early activity. "There is a tremendous amount of interest. Without fail, every deal that we've taken to market in the past four months we have found a buyer at a number that makes sense for the seller." With the development pipeline so strong, investment sales exec- utives are also bullish on 2015's market for asset sales. SHB