Scion, Ares JV Acquires Student Housing Portfolio for $910M
The transaction is the largest in the asset class to take place this year.
A joint venture between The Scion Group and an Ares Real Estate fund acquired a 12-property, 7,578-bed student housing portfolio from Harrison Street Asset Management for $910 million. The deal marks the largest transaction for the asset class this year.
The student communities were acquired by Harrison Street over the past 10 years through five Harrison Street fund vehicles. They are located across 10 states and serve 12 universities, including Arizona State University, Auburn University, University of Florida, the University of Notre Dame, The Ohio State University and James Madison University.
Scion will be the operating partner. With this acquisition, the company’s total holdings now span more than 105,000 beds across 161 communities in 90 markets, making it the world’s largest owner of student housing.
This is also Scion’s first investment with Ares, a real estate manager with approximately $117 billion in assets under management. It is part of Ares Management Corp., an alternative investment manager with more than $644 billion of assets under management.
READ ALSO: National Student Housing Report
BMO led the financing for the transaction and Walker & Dunlop served as a financing advisor for the buyer. Peter Katz, executive managing director of investments with Marcus & Millichap’s Institutional Property Advisors, advised Harrison Street.
Since 2016, Scion has deployed approximately $10.2 billion, including $3.4 billion in the past 24 months. In June 2025, a joint venture between Scion and funds managed by Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing agreed to acquire a collection with more than 2,000 beds in Oxford, Miss., for $262 million. That same month, the duo closed on the purchase of College Town Oxford, a cottage-style asset containing 2,028 beds across 166 buildings. Tailwind Group previously owned the property, Yardi Matrix reported.
Earlier transactions between two firms
Harrison Street and Scion have completed multiple large-scale transactions together since 2017. In November 2024, Scion and an unnamed institutional investor acquired 14 student housing properties with a total of 8,724 beds for $893 million from Harrison Street. The properties were located in 11 states near 13 universities, including the University of Arkansas, Texas A&M University and the University of Missouri.
Earlier in 2024, another Scion joint venture purchased The Aves at Twelve100, a 507-unit, 1,527-bed student property in Orlando, Fla., serving the University of Central Florida. The sale price was not disclosed, but Harrison Street had acquired the asset for $84.2 million in December 2011, according to Yardi Matrix.
