Campus Advantage Snaps Up More Student Housing

Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Austin, Texas–Campus Advantage Inc. has acquired three more student housing properties, adding nearly 1,000 beds to a growing portfolio of such properties, according to the company. The properties are 8½ Canal at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va.; The Union at Midtown at Wayne State University in Detroit; and 318 Commons at University of Minnesota-Rochester in Rochester, Minn.

Recently, the Austin-based company has been eager in seeking student housing for acquisition. Since this January it has added nearly 5,300 beds to its student housing portfolio. With the new acquisitions, Campus Advantage manages more than 30,000 beds at 52 locations in 21 states, and the company also offers management, development, acquisition and consulting services in the student-housing niche.

It isn’t easy finding good student housing properties, according to Campus Advantage. “There’s a limited pool of tier-one and -two level schools, with high barriers of entry and growing student populations,” Michael Orsak, vice president of acquisitions for the company, tells MHN. “Because of the limited supply and strong demand, prices have naturally risen.”

The competition is varied, Orsak adds. “A wide variety of investment institutions have become active in the student housing sector,” he explains. “Certainly the traditional student housing companies are, but others–such as public REITs, pension funds, private capital, and even hedge funds–have announced plans to enter into the market.”

Thus Campus Advantage’s business model doesn’t depend completely on finding and buying student housing. “On a broader level, Campus Advantage has seen tremendous growth in consulting for new development, acquisition and operational assessment for troubled properties,” Orsak says. “On a third-party management basis, we have experienced steady growth during the recession, and as the financial markets continue to open up, we expect that growth to increase.”