PeakMade JV Opens 2nd Phase of Student Community in North Florida
The delivery adds 329 beds to the developer’s portfolio.
The joint venture between PeakMade Real Estate and Blue Vista Capital Management has opened the 329-bed second and final phase of Theory Gainesville. The 298-unit, 861-bed student housing community in Gainesville, Fla., serves the University of Florida.
The project’s 532-bed first phase came online last August and is more than 95 percent occupied. A total of 80 percent of the entire community is already preleased for the next academic year.
The developer broke ground on Theory Gainesville in June 2021. In April 2022, Banc of California provided a $69.4 million construction loan, Yardi Matrix data shows. One month later, Square Mile Capital served as mezzanine lender and Pacific Western Bank as senior mortgage lender on a $93 million financing package also involving Theory Interlock, a student housing community in Atlanta that came online in September.
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Theory Gainesville encompasses four three- to five-story buildings spread across 5 acres. The unit mix includes studio and one- to five-bedroom floorplans ranging between 553 and 1,882 square feet. Some of the fully furnished apartments also feature private balconies or patios.
Common-area amenities consist of a rooftop fitness center, a swimming pool with cabanas, an outdoor jumbotron theater, an academic lounge with individual and group study rooms, a clubroom, podcast rooms and multiple outdoor courtyards.
Located at 1210 NW Fifth Ave., the community is within walking distance of University of Florida’s Gainesville campus and 1 mile from the city’s downtown. Gainesville Regional Airport is less than 6 miles away.
University of Florida’s growing housing inventory
University of Florida currently has 48 student housing properties serving its Gainesville campus, totaling more than 10,550 units, according to Yardi Matrix data. Additionally, there are two developments underway, with completion scheduled this year, that will add 996 beds to supply.
Article Student Living broke ground on Nine 31, a 205-unit project in May 2022. The 563-bed project is expected to feature 4,500 square feet of retail space.
Meanwhile, the Tampa, Fla.,-based 908 Group is working on the Monarch Gainesville, a 149-unit development that is taking shape near Theory Gainesville. Construction of the 583-bed community started last June.
