Chicago — Vancouver-based QuadReal Property Group has invested $600 million in a joint venture with Chicago-based CA Student Living and San Francisco-based private equity firm GI Partners to invest in U.S. student housing.
The JV is starting with a 10-property portfolio managed by CA Student Living, including several properties set to deliver this fall. The JV will also acquire and develop additional properties that are in CA’s development pipeline.
“The new venture will recapitalize 10 assets – totaling 4,713 bedrooms – for long term ownership while providing capital to execute a bustling pipeline of new development opportunities at select top tier university markets in core locations,” says JJ Smith, president of CA Student Living. “Four properties were built by CA Student Living between 2015-2016 and six will be delivered in fall 2017.”
Though QuadReal is an established investor in commercial real estate, the investment marks the company’s entry into the U.S. student housing market.
“The portfolio gives QuadReal/GI immediate scale in the sector with core assets that CA Student Living has developed and is operating,” says Smith. “These assets are already almost 80 percent pre-leased for the Fall school year, which is 20 percent above their mark last year at this same time.The joint venture helps CA Student Living execute our development pipeline while giving us the opportunity to do so programmatically rather than as a one-off for each individual transaction’s capitalization.”