Stirling Properties Buys Baton Rouge Student Housing

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

Baton Rouge, La.—Stirling Properties Inc. has acquired Tiger Manor, a 287-unit student housing property near Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La. One block north of the LSU campus, Tiger Manor (helpfully named after the school mascot) is at the corner of July St. and State St. to the west of Highland Road.

The property is currently 93 percent occupied and provides access to the school, either on foot or by LSU’s campus shuttle service. Recently, Sterling Properties closed on the acquisition of the next-door, 108-unit Coventry Terrace apartments for $5.1 million, and according to Stirling Properties senior vice president Jeffery Marshall, the two properties will soon share a new entrance directly from State Street.

As owner, Stirling Properties will fulfill the role of asset manager for the newly acquired property. BH Management, based in Des Moines, will report to Stirling Properties as the primary property management firm.

Covington, La.-based Stirling Properties is a diversified CRE firm. With the Tiger Manor acquisition, the company now owns 367 multi-housing units, including three apartment properties in Lafayette and now the two in Baton Rouge.

HFF worked on behalf of Stirling Properties to obtain $19.5 million in acquisition financing for the deal, led in the effort by senior managing director Kevin Mackenzie and associate director Jim Curtin. The loan is a 10-year fixed-rate securitized loan through Natixis Real Estate Capital LLC.