Mosaic Finances California Student Housing
A $68.8 million construction loan will pay for the construction of an 885-bed student housing facility serving the University of California-Merced.
Merced Station. Rendering via Mosaic Real Estate Credit
Shamrock Acquisitions has obtained a $68.8 million construction loan to develop a new student housing facility located at 2980 Yosemite in Merced, Calif. The 885-bed property will serve students at the University of California-Merced (UC-Merced). The loan was provided by an affiliate of Mosaic Real Estate Credit (MREC).
The financing was arranged by Scott Meredith of George Smith Partners. In addition to funding the vertical construction, the loan will in part go to refinancing existing debt and to paying for some soft costs and site work.
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Merced Station will feature two-, three- and four-bedroom units across 15 residential buildings situated on a 17-acre site. Units will include full appliance packages. Merced Station’s common-area amenities will include a swimming pool and spa, basketball court, fitness room, bike storage and study lounge with high-speed wireless Internet access.
Along with residences, the Merced Station project will incorporate retail space and a clubhouse. Construction is scheduled for completion in the summer of 2021.
The city, with a population of approximately 83,000, is in the San Joaquin Valley about 80 miles directly east of San Jose, where a luxury community recently change hands.
Much Needed Housing
Situated less than two miles from the UCM campus, Merced Station will be the closest off-campus student housing alternative for the class of 2021.
UC-Merced has benefitted from Generation Z coming of college age. The surge in Gen-Z arrivals has led to a substantial increase in college enrollment coast to coast. That increase in turn means many colleges have outgrown existing on-campus student housing. In addition to being too small to accommodate the number of students needing housing, many of these facilities have also become functionally obsolete.
The development of Merced Station will address the shortage of student housing at UC-Merced, which is among the nation’s fastest-growing public universities.
Since the university’s founding in 2005, undergrad enrollment has quadrupled. It now stands at 8,500 but is expected to increase to 10,000 by the end of next year.
