Student Housing Marketing Truck Hits the Streets in San Antonio

By Dees Stribling, Contributing Editor

San Antonio—Marketing a new multifamily project can take a number of forms, but one student housing property in San Antonio is pursuing a novel approach: a former food truck acting as a mobile marketing center. The marketing method is the brainchild of the development firm Carter, undertaken on behalf of Tetro Student Village, a development under way in the northwest part of the city.

Tetro Student Village is a 198-unit, 590-bed property located less than half a mile from the University of Texas at San Antonio campus. Slated to open in time for the fall semester of 2014, efforts to market the property include more conventional advertising as well as social media. And then there’s the Tetro Truck.

The Tetro Truck will travel to nearby festivals, parks, sporting events, restaurants and bars to promote the property and sign up residents. The 14-foot food truck has been remodeled to tour and provide leasing support for Tetro Student Village, according to Atlanta-based Carter. Students will also be able to take virtual tours of the units, and conduct all leasing transactions online from the truck.

The 16-acre community will include 121 apartments and 77 townhouses built around a town center. The development will feature one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units, and the townhouses will include two-car garages.

Amenities will include a coffee shop, sports bar, fitness center, media room for watching sporting events and movies as well as playing video games, a resort-style pool, volleyball, basketball and bocce ball courts, soccer field, grilling area, fire pit, dog park and tanning room. Cardinal Group Management will oversee the management and leasing of the property, which is already accepting residents for the 2014-15 academic term.