Student Housing Business is the voice of the student housing industry.
Issue link: https://studenthousingbusiness.epubxp.com/i/488341
NE WS IN BRIEF MARCH/APRIL 2015 STUDENT HOUSING BUSINESS .COM 8 ANNEX STUDENT LIVING ANNOUNCES RESTRUCTURING AND EXPANSION Indianapolis — Student hous- ing developer Annex Student Living has completed its corporate restructuring and launched a new division, Annex Construction, to meet increasing demand for pur- pose-built student housing in secondary and tertiary markets. Founded in 2009 by CEO Kyle Bach, Annex Student Living was operating under parent organization Mecca Companies, an afford- able housing development and neighborhood redevelopment frm founded by Bach in 2006. Bach recently separated the companies to focus solely on student housing through Annex Student Living, especially in Midwestern com- munities where regional campus colleges and Division II and III universities are located. In the past 18 months, Annex has added eight properties to its student housing portfolio. The developer now has 1,700 beds in various stages of operation in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, with several hundred more under construction in Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri. CA VENTURES, WANXIANG AND CORE INVESTMENTS ACQUIRE SIX FORMER CAMPUS CREST SITES Chicago — CA Student Living (CA), a subsidiary of CA Ventures, Wanxiang America Real Estate Group and Core Investments LLC have formed a joint venture and acquired six development sites from Campus Crest Communities Inc. The sites are located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama; Bellingham, Washington; Allendale, Michigan; Tempe, Arizona; Sacramento, California; and Boca Raton, Florida. Wanxiang America Real Estate Group is a Chicago-based investment partner that is the domestic real estate arm of Chinese auto parts manufacturer Wanxiang Group Inc. Core Investments is a co-develop- er and investment partner consisting of John Clifford and Thomas Odai. The joint venture completed this transaction as part of a strate- gic opportunity to acquire entitled, or nearly entitled, land with plans and permits, avoiding the entitlement process and proceeding directly to construction. The six sites are largely entitled and ready for CA to begin construction on fve of the sites this spring, for delivery in fall 2016. The JV intends to utilize the previously approved Campus Crest development plans for the majority of these sites, while incorporating some modifcations to make the projects more consistent with CA's developments and assets. COZEN O'CONNOR FORMS HIGHER EDUCATION INDUSTRY TEAM Philadelphia — Cozen O'Connor has formed a high- er education industry team. Although the frm has repre- sented colleges and universi- ties for decades, the higher education industry team formalizes this multidisci- plinary group. "Cozen O'Connor has handled a myriad complex matters for institutions of higher education over the years, including real estate, public and project fnance, tax, compliance, intellectual property, health care, energy, labor and employment, litigation and government relations matters," says James Kennedy, chair of the higher educa- tion industry team and a member of the frm's real estate practice group. "Our goal is that the team structure will enable us to exceed our cli- ents' expectations and develop further innova- tions in service delivery." Kyle Bach, CEO of Annex Student Living James Kennedy, Cozen O'Connor