Apartment Realty Advisors National Student Housing Group (ARA Student Housing) in conjunction with ARA’s Arizona office announces the sale of Hub on Campus in Tempe, AZ. Built in 2013, Hub on Campus is a 19-story, 269-unit/637-bed newly developed core student housing property located adjacent to the Arizona State University. The asset consists of 410,416 gross square feet, including 241,097 net rentable square feet of residential area above 21,482 net rentable square feet of retail space on the hard corner of College Avenue and Veterans Way. The one-of-a-kind asset features ultra-high-end residential finish-outs and amenities including: two resort style pools, private misting cabana areas with TV’s, a 22-foot LED outdoor TV screen, sand volleyball court, indoor/outdoor fitness center, tanning booths, steam room, study lounges and penthouse suites with private hot tubs.
ARA Student Housing’s team of Chris Epp, Chris Bancroft, and Meredith Wolff along with ARA Arizona brokers Brad Goff and David Lord represented the Chicago based sellers, CORE Campus, in the transaction.
“Hub on Campus is hands down the most extraordinary piece of real estate we’ve had an opportunity to sell,” said Epp. “Our client nailed all aspects of what constitutes a perfect student housing development. The combination of an irreplaceable location, groundbreaking architecture, substantial ad valorem tax abatement and additional land for significant future development led to one of the most picture-perfect sales stories we’ve ever worked with.” Epp continued, “As a part of the sales process, CORE Campus wanted to focus on a limited number of highly qualified parties. Investors responded well to this approach the seller was
able to establish a good working relationship with the buyer, Inland American Communities, in very short period of time.”
“Inland performed exceptionally well and closed the transaction despite several complex factors including the conveyance of a future development opportunity, calculation of future tax abatements and valuation of on-going retail leasing.” said Bancroft. “In the end, the asset location and extraordinary build-out was a strategic fit for Inland’s student housing platform going forward.”
Hub on Campus leased up very quickly during construction and closing in on 100 percent preleased at sale, with excellent leasing velocity going into the start of the ’13-’14 academic year. The overwhelming acceptance of the property by future residents in advance of construction completion validated the developer’s choice in asset location and initial lease rates.
The asset was sold shortly after issuance of Certificate of Occupancy and was priced off the fall 2013 rent roll. At a purchase price of $103M, the Hub on Campus sale represents the fourth highest priced transaction of a single asset, purpose-built student housing product in the US.
Core Campus currently has projects in Oxford, MS, Tucson, AZ and Columbia, SC. The company is under contract in several markets including Madison, WI, Eugene, OR, East Lansing, MI as well as others.
