Campus Advantage Reaches $1.2B Acquisition Milestone
The company has reached a milestone of $1.2 billion in assets.
University Crescent
Austin—Campus Advantage, in a joint venture with Saban Real Estate, has acquired 19 American Campus Communities properties, raising its acquisition total to more than $1.2 billion in portfolio assets.
Campus Advantage recently successfully disposed of 6,000 beds owned through a 10-year relationship with CalSTRS, and is recycling that capital into this deal.
“Our stated mission is to lead the world in creating financially successful communities that excel and providing a rewarding living, learning and career experience,” Mike Peter, Campus Advantage’s president & CEO, told MHN. “By expanding our platform, it certainly allows us to better deliver on that mission. It also has diversified our capital relationships, and it furthers our own goal of growing our joint venture assets, which of course for us means greater control over selections of the properties, and the markets, and the budgets and the performance. So it dovetails very well with what our stated objectives are as an organization.”
Through programmatic joint ventures, Campus Advantage has built its property portfolio of both owned and managed properties to some 30,000 beds, charting it among the top five owner/operators in the United States.
Campus Advantage will take over management of the most recent properties in three phases during the next several months. It just closed on eight tier-one university student housing properties for the University of Missouri, Louisiana State University and the University of Alabama.
“This was an ACC portfolio, and we know those guys quite well; we know how they take care of their properties and that they’ve got a top-notch staff, so you know you’re buying something of value,” Peter said. “I think because it is a value-add opportunity for us, we’ve spent the last 14 years really specializing in transforming under-performing assets into successes for our third-party clients. This is an opportunity on a value-add basis for us to do that for our own and our partners.”
The company has budgeted approximately $30 million for renovations in the properties, including everything from clubhouse and amenity upgrades to unit updates.
“We’re going to be taking a look at a number of things in the units like flooring and kitchens, and sort of put in a new look and feel in some of those,” Peter said. “As one would expect from a first class operator, these were well run, well maintained assets. The properties will benefit from a fresh set of eyes, new programs, and upgraded amenities.”
