Core Spaces to Develop 3 Chicago Communities
Completion is scheduled between 2028 and 2031.
Core Spaces will expand its student housing inventory near the University of Illinois Urbana at Champaign, Ill., campus with three new projects. The purpose-built student housing communities will total more than 3,500 beds.
Completion is scheduled between 2028 and 2031. The company first entered the school market in 2020 with the development of Hub Champaign, a 658-bed property now known as The Dean. The company then developed Hub Champaign Daniel a year later, totaling 569 beds.
As part of this expansion, Core Spaces is also working on Hub Champaign Green Street, a 490-unit, 1,577-bed student project on the south side of Green Street, between 2nd and 3rd streets. The community is set to come online in the summer of 2028, before the 2028-2029 academic year.
The communities will be centrally located, near both campus and downtown Champaign. All projects will rise along the Green Street corridor.
The University of Illinois had 14,741 student housing beds completed as of April, according to a recent Yardi Matrix student housing report. The school registered strong fundamentals year-over-year as of the same month, with the average rent per bed increasing 5 percent to $1,013 and the preleasing rate clocking in at 73.6 percent—marking a 4.1 percent growth.
Core Spaces continues student housing expansion
Founded in 2020, Core Spaces owns or manages more than 74,440 beds, with a pipeline of 53,860 beds in different development stages. At the beginning of last month, the company closed its flagship student housing fund, raising $1.6 billion from global investors, marking one of the largest capital raises in the sector. The firm will use the financing to expand its collection across the U.S. through development and acquisitions.
In terms of construction activity, Core Spaces is also working on a 1,195-bed student project in Tampa, Fla. The firm, in partnership with Harrison Street Asset Management, topped out the community known as Hub Tampa Fowler this March and is set to complete it next year.
