Focus on College Station Student Housing
More than 4,000 off-campus beds are expected to come on line by fall 2016 in College Station, Texas (home of Texas A&M University, which is among the nation’s five largest universities.) Toss in the on-campus housing slated to deliver, and this college town is booming with student housing options.
Eastwood Multifamily Group (of Marcus & Millichap) student housing specialist Teddy Leatherman (getting wet on a recent vacation) tells us the College Station student housing market remains one of the top markets on investors’ lists because of the continued enrollment growth, on-campus expansion and average family income. The reported rental growth for the market was 7.48% from the 2014 academic year to the 2015 academic year, despite the added supply, Teddy tells us. She adds that because of the increase of supply, concessions of up to $1,289 crept into the marketplace this lease-up season.
Teddy says that over the past few years, TAMU officials have discussed moving all freshmen to on-campus housing, and the new construction will provide TAMU the infrastructure to accommodate such a proposal. In addition to on-campus housing, the expenditure will include the construction of classroom space. The funding comes from the Permanent University Fund, which is a percentage of the state’s oil funds. TAMU recently announced a projected enrollment for its College Station campus of 80,000 students by the year 2020, an increase of 21,000 students compared to the current enrollment of 59,000 students. (Pictured is the 200-bed Cherry Street Apartments student housing project in College Station's Northgate district. It's developed by Dallas-based Seneca Investments, built by KWA Construction and designed by NTS Architects & Planners. The project is expected to open in summer 2016.)
Blinn College acquired its second campus in Bryan, just northwest of TAMU’s College Station campus, Teddy tells us. The college is projecting an enrollment of 20,000 students by the year 2020, an increase of 6,413 students from the current enrollment of almost 14,000 students. Through the recruitment initiatives of both universities, the combined projected enrollment goal for 2020 is expected to be approximately 95,212 students in the Bryan/College Station market, Teddy says. (Pictured is Campus Village at College Station, owned by Campus Assets.)
