Chicago — Investment management firm Harrison Street has sold a student housing portfolio for $893 million. Affiliates of The Scion Group and an institutional investor were the buyers.
Totaling 8,724 student housing beds, the portfolio features 14 properties located at 13 universities. Situated across 11 states, the student housing developments serve universities including the University of Arkansas, Texas A&M and the University of Missouri.
Chicago-based Harrison Street was founded in 2005 and has invested across the seniors housing, student housing, build-to-rent, healthcare, life sciences and self-storage sectors. The company’s current portfolio includes roughly $56 billion of assets under management.
Since its inception, Harrison Street has invested more than $22 billion across 410 student housing properties. According to a statement issued by Christopher Merrill, the company’s co-founder, chairman and CEO, this transaction illustrates a heightened demand for student housing among investors.
The Scion Group is the largest owner-operator of off-campus student housing communities worldwide, with a portfolio of 140 communities. The Chicago-based firm currently has more than $10 billion of assets under management.
“This portfolio augments Scion’s position in seven of our current university markets, as well as adds six new markets we have long targeted, bringing Scion to nearly 92,000 beds across 82 leading campus markets,” says Robert Bronstein, president of The Scion Group.
— Hayden Spiess