College campuses across the country are feeling the pressure to keep students on campus by offering better accommodations. This week’s business report looks at the methods these campuses are implementing to make on-campus living viable for college students.
According to a recent report from GlobeSt, student housing projects in the U.S. show a fundamentally solid demand. With an estimated growth of 1.2 percent in student population, giving those students better options for housing isn’t necessarily a blazing hot investment, but it’s a good one. That’s why Campus Apartments, a privately held student housing company, and real estate investment manager, Clarion Partners, have chosen to team together and create a fund. The fund closed with $402.9 million in equity — largely from institutional investors.
Universities have spent a number of years primarily focusing their dollars on academic offerings rather than housing, the report states, leading to a reliance on the private sector to create housing opportunities. The fund will seek out the development of both off-campus and on-campus opportunities across the nation.
What does it look like when public-private partnerships are formed in order to provide revamped on-campus housing that can keep up with the off-campus offerings in the area? Here is a glimpse of how that is taking shape in a few places.
More than Just a Year
The University of Minnesota has a problem. Their students tend to move out of the dorms after their first year of school in search of places that are more affordable. They want higher quality rooms and higher quality meal choices. The problem has resulted in a new multi-year, multi-million dollar plan to improve housing at the university, according to an article from KMSP-TV.
U of M is now seeking non-university managers to join forces with in order to improve its on-campus offerings. Some of the items in the plan include renovations to its existing housing, along with modernized dining options; develop second-year experience programs with non-university partners in order to increase the number of students remaining in the dorms for more than a year; provide increased safety in Greek housing; and increase demand for housing at the St. Paul campus.
It’s currently unclear as to who will fund this project or exactly how much it will cost, the article noted.
Adding to the Experience of Campus Life
$548 million. That’s the cost of the agreement between the University System of Georgia and Corvias Campus Living. As detailed in a report from WAGT 26, part of that agreement involves two new residence halls at Georgia Regents University.
The existing residence halls at the university will be demolished this month in order to make room for a 413-bed undergraduate residence hall and a 310-bed residence hall for graduate students. The undergraduate hall will consist of two-bedroom units, while the graduate hall will feature studios and one-bedroom apartments.
According to GRU president Ricardo Azziz, a successful educational experience thrives on campus life and residence hall living. He further explained that, in addition to supplying new and safer housing for students, the residence hall will increase the affordability of student housing for the university and enrich the access to campus life experiences.
Popular with Our Northern Neighbors
Public-private partnerships for on-campus housing are cropping up all over Canada these days. According to an article from The Globe and Mail, the acceptance of these partnerships may be easier in Canada, where most universities are found in urban centers, than it’s in the U.S., where college towns are destinations. In urban centers, the article explains, neighborhoods near the university are less open to the building of student housing-only complexes.
Currently, Knightstone Capital is working with Centennial College to supply on-campus residences for more than 700 students. The plan for the residences involves three to four bedroom apartments, each with its own kitchen, on the Scarborough campus. There will also be a teaching restaurant staffed and run by students of the college’s hospitality program.
The Centennial project is one of three public-private projects taking place at universities in the Toronto area, the article noted. An interest in attracting more students is creating the potential for more of these partnerships on the horizon.
Are you interested in news about on and off campus student housing? Check back here for more student housing business reporting.
Equal Housing Opportunity
