US investment manager Harrison Street and Chicago-based CA Ventures have announced the formation of a new joint venture partnership to develop and acquire purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) assets across the UK.
The JV also announced its first four PBSA development projects, totalling 935 beds located in London, Edinburgh, Leicester and Belfast. All four assets - Hackney Wick in London, Stanley Place in Edinburgh, Conduit Street in Leicester and Botanic Avenue in Belfast - will be managed by CA’s in-house PBSA operating platform, Novel Student.
‘This JV is a testament to Harrison Street’s long-term conviction in the European student accommodation sector,’ said Paul Bashir, CEO of Harrison Street’s European business. ‘We are excited to expand our presence in top-tier university cities in the UK, with each having growing student populations in need of high-quality PBSA that cater to their wellbeing. CA is a strong partner, with whom Harrison Street has worked with for over a dozen years in the US, that boasts significant expertise operating student housing properties globally. We are excited to expand our partnership with them as we continue our approach of investing in strong PBSA assets in attractive UK university markets.’
‘We are thrilled to be partnering with Harrison Street, a long-time trusted investment partner, to deliver these exciting new PBSA schemes,’ said Carlo Matta, head of Europe at CA. ‘Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the student accommodation sector has continued to demonstrate its recession-resistant qualities and outperform other commercial real estate asset classes. Our JV with Harrison Street is a great example of the momentum we are currently experiencing in the student sector, globally. There is clear demand for the products and services that CA specializes in and we believe in the investment opportunity now more than ever.’
Earlier this year, CA launched its PBSA property management platform, Novel Student, to operate its new development portfolio in the UK and Europe. With the addition of the JV’s newly announced assets, Novel’s portfolio will include more than 2,500 beds under management across the UK and Europe. CA currently has 897 beds under construction in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Sheffield, all of which delivering in time for the 2021-22 academic year.
Harrison Street has invested over €2.7 bn across 46 assets throughout Europe, including over 13,400 student accommodation beds, 2,070 residential units and 1.7 million square feet of life sciences space.
