Several factors are combining to change the housing of students at
American colleges in dramatic ways.
First, enrollments are growing rapidly. The National Center for
Public Policy and Higher Education (www.highereducation.org) says that
20 states will have college enrollment increases of 20 percent in the
next 5-6 years.
Second, dorms are aging just as new services -- particularly for data
communications -- are being demanded.
Third, while students like the community of close-in housing, it's
becoming increasingly difficult to keep older students in dormitories
even as paid residential advisors.
And watch what you call the housing: "Housing professionals shun the
use of the word dorms," says Bill Mills Jr., president of the St.
Petersburg, FL, development firm University Housing Services
(www.uhsi.com). "A 'dorm' connotes gang showers at the end of the
hall; stuff that was built in the '50s or '60s."
Miami University (Ohio) has a great summary of housing trends "Student
Housing: History" (undated):
http://www.users.muohio.edu/karrowrs/College/CT_Student_Housing_Hist.htm
RESPONSE TO DEMAND
-------------------
The response has been a wide mix of public-private initiatives. Often
a housing foundation or quasi-public corporation is put together to
take advantage of non-profit (501c3) status and municipal tax-exempt
bonds. A good example is what was done by the University of Albany to
raise $59 million for development of 1200 student housing units,
"University Begins Construction of New Student Housing" (Oct. 1,
2001):
http://www.albany.edu/feature2001/10-1/empire_commons.html
In other cases it's private funding and construction, with university
housing services managing the dorms, err, apartments.
PRIVATE FIRMS
--------------
A number of private companies are actively engaged in the market to
provide housing. I'll highlight some of the larger ones, but must
emphasize that I kept finding new companies right down to finishing
this answer.
AMBLING COMPANIES, INC.
348 Enterprise Drive
Valdosta, GA 31601
(229) 244-2800
http://www.ambling.com/
Ambling says that it has developed 4,200 units of student housing
throughout the U.S. totaling approximately 13,800 beds and that its
student-housing portfolio includes 27 projects with a value of more
than $577 million.
University Courtyard Apartments at 16 universities:
http://www.universitycourtyard.com/communities.asp
Under development:
* 300 rooms (1200 beds) at Old Dominion University
* Thunderbird, the American Graduate School of International
Management in Glendale, AZ
* University of Arizona (UA) at Tucson
* 338-bed student apartment complex at Northern Arizona University
(NAU) in Flagstaff
* $65 million project to build and renovate housing for 2,000 students
at Georgia College and State University in Milledgeville, GA. The
Georgia College and State University Foundation Limited Liability
Company is the owner.
Note that Ambling also does housing for military facilities.
AMERICAN CAMPUS COMMUNITIES
805 Las Cimas Parkway, Suite 400
Austin, TX 78746
(512) 732-1000
http://www.studenthousing.com/post-intro.cfm
The company's website says, "Since 1993 the company has developed
and/or acquired 24 student communities consisting of more than 15,000
beds. Since 1996, the company has been awarded the development of 14
on-campus, privatized student housing facilities housing over 8,000
students. Currently American Campus manages and/or owns 19 student
properties with an asset value exceeding more than $350 million."
Press releases from this year highlight 5 campuses where new
development activity is occurring:
http://www.studenthousing.com/post-intro.cfm
CAPSTONE DEVELOPMENT CORP.
431 Office Park Drive
Birmingham, AL 35223
(205) 414-6400
http://www.capstonecompanies.com/main
40 facilities on- and off-campus; more than 16,000 beds developed with
2,200+ being added in Fall, 2002.
CENTURY DEVELOPMENT (Houston)
Two Post Oak Central
1980 Post Oak Blvd., Suite 1200
Houston, Texas 77056
(713) 621-9500
http://www.centurydevelopment.com/index_comp_info.htm
Generally credited (by The New York Times) with being the first
company to complete privatized housing at the University of Houston in
1990, Century runs a subsidiary called Century Campus Housing
Management (CCHM). It now manages 19,000 beds on-campus.
The company has developed, is developing or operating 40 on-campus
student housing facilities with 8,300 units. It says that it is
negotiating on approximately additional 30 student housing
transactions.
EDUCATIONAL HOUSING SERVICES, INC.
31 Lexington Av.
New York, NY 10010
(212) 977-9099
http://www.studenthousing.org/
Four buildings in New York City.
JPI STUDENT LIVING
Suite 598, 600 E. Las Colinas Blvd.
Irving, TX 75039
(972) 56-1700
http://www.jeffersoncommons.com/
JPI has about 24 university apartments under the Jefferson Commons
name, but also develops and manages luxury apartment communities,
having 24,000 apartments under management.
PLACE COLLEGIATE PROPERTIES LP
101 Marietta Street NW, Suite 1050
Atlanta, GA 30303
(404) 920.9200
http://www.placeproperties.com/corporate/market.htm
According to the Place website, the company "presently owns and
manages over 6,000 bedrooms of off-campus housing at 12 colleges and
universities. Most recently, Place financed and is developing 1,600
beds of on-campus housing, a student activity/wellness center, and two
parking decks for 1600 cars at the University of
Tennessee-Chattanooga. In addition, Place has financed and is
developing 2,000 beds of on-campus housing to open in the Fall 2002 at
Kennesaw State University in Atlanta."
UNIVERSITY HOUSING SERVICES
25 Second Street North Suite 400
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
( 888) UHS-TEAM
http://www.uhsi.com
Six projects at different universities mentioned on their website:
http://www.uhsi.com/projects.htm
Three publications that seem to have done a good job covering this
area:
University Business Magazine, in particular see, "The pressure from
growth" (February, 2002):
http://www.universitybusiness.com/story.asp?txtFilename=archives/Feb2002/explosion.htm
"Building Out of the Crunch" (February, 2002):
http://www.universitybusiness.com/story.asp?txtFilename=archives/Feb2002/crunch.htm
College Planning & Management:
http://www.peterli.com/cpm/
Chronicle of Higher Education (it's the Bible of higher education):
http://www.chronicle.com
Some sites with excellent resources and bibliographies:
This Miami University collection on "Families and Students Living in a
College Town" (undated) is an excellent overall resource:
http://www.users.muohio.edu/karrowrs/College/CT_Student_Housing.htm
A good bibliography from the ERIC Clearinghouse for Community Colleges
University of California, Los Angeles
"Housing and the Community College" (Spring, 2000)
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/ERIC/bibs/housing.html
A broad survey of what students find lacking in housing, "Cocooning: A
Qualitative Analysis of The Ecology of College Housing Trends" (1995)
http://wbarratt.indstate.edu/ce/V13n2.htm
Google search strategy:
"student housing" + trends
"private dormitories"
The first search string was not exhausted in preparing this answer.
In fact there are over 5,000 Google links and by perusing Internet
articles, you'll certainly run into companies consulting on;
financing; building; or considering issues in private university
housing.
Best regards,
Omnivorous-GA |
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