Bahrain-based investment firm Arcapita Group Holdings on Monday announced the acquisition of a student-housing property at Clemson University in South Carolina, part of its growing portfolio of such projects in the US.
The Clemson Lofts deal follows the recent acquisition of Quarry Trail, a student-housing property at the University of Tennessee.
Both deals were valued at $120 million and bring to around 1,500 the number of student-housing beds under Arcapita’s ownership.
Clemson Lofts is a 640-bed student-housing property located approximately one mile away from Clemson University, the second-largest university in South Carolina. It currently has an average occupancy rate of 99 percent.
Quarry Trail, an 840-bed student-housing unit in Knoxville, was bought by Arcapita in January last year.
Brian Hebb, managing director at Arcapita, said in a press statement: “These acquisitions mark our foray into US student housing — a rental housing subsector with great potential. We target assets that serve large public universities with undergraduate enrollment of over 10,000 students and are located approximately one to three miles away from campus.”
Martin Tan, chief investment officer at Arcapita, added: “With over 20 million university students and less than 1 million purpose-built student-housing beds, the US student-housing industry is in its early stages of supply and has the potential for considerable growth. We look forward to working closely with our operating partners to build a sizable and diversified student-housing portfolio across the US.”
Arcapita has offices in Atlanta, London and Singapore and an affiliated office in Bahrain. Over the last 24 years, it has recorded over 90 investments with a total transaction value in excess of $30 billion.
