News
STUDENTS GET NEW DIGS
May 24, 2012
| Property values sink when college students band together to rent a house. (The words "Animal House" get bandied about.) Getting them in a dorm, in contrast, makes developers and investors very happy.Yesterday morning, 250 gathered at the W Midtown for the latest at our second annual Student Housing Summit. | ||
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| This is what the room looked like without our glasses (i.e. after a couple of beers). It's a similar haze to the one students get around exam time. Student housing now runs the economic sprectrum— from budget basic to LEED-certified luxury. | ||
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| Don't know your nose from your elbow when it comes to student housing? You won't be happy in that space, says Place Properties CEO Cecil Phillips. Imagine 60,000 12-month leases and 60,000 new tenants turning over in a single day, then be very afraid. | ||
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| "Capital is flowing into our space in a major way," according to Landmark Properties CEO Wes Rogers (here with Eddie Lusk of sponsor Reznick Group). Landmark now works with equity partner Harrison Street Real Estate Capital out of Chicago. It co-invests 20% to 50% of the equity and takes personal recourse on loans. | ||
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| GA Tech housing director Francis Gillis says the cost of student housing can't keep going up—pushback is coming. (Imagine a student bedroom sit-in... every undergrad's dream.) Students pay the costs for tech because "it's the degree." Plus an all-inclusive rent mechanism: custodians, maintenace folk are all part of the "security envelope" that parents feel comfortable with, he says. | ||
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| Second panel: moderator Laura Hester of sponsor Foltz Martin, Kennesaw State University's Jeff Cooper, Carter's Andy Feinour, and Lord, Aeck & Sargent's Eric Brock. For families, security is a focal point (think Virginia Tech), Jeff says. You can only guarantee your roomate is a student on-campus. Safety and higher-quality housing, Erick says, are part of today's segmented market. | ||
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| Guess who's wrong? A lot of people, like investors targeting big institutions. (Also, people who don't believe in aliens, but that's a different issue.) "We think there's more opportunity at secondary and tertiary schools," Andy says. The challenge is to convince large institutional equity players or banks to lend capital at institutions that aren't as well-known. | ||
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| Sponsor Hardin Construction's Carlos Torres, Anna Hughes, and Damien Crandal. As one of the nation's top-five student housing builders, Hardin will deliver four new student housing facilities on four separate campuses this summer in Georgia alone. | ||
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| We were joined by Mel Mingle with Steelform USA, a steel manufacturing and distribution company with over 50 years of experience providing design partnering and design?assist engineering (4-40 floors). Steelform has projects in the government, residential, commercial, and educational arenas across the US. |
