TIAA-CREF Acquires Student Housing Property near University of North Texas
NEW YORK, NY – July 6, 2015 – (RealEstateRama) — TIAA-CREF, a Fortune 100 financial services organization and a leading institutional real estate investor, today announced the acquisition of 33º North, a student housing complex located at 919 Eagle Drive in Denton, Texas.
The 427-bed property was built in 2013 and is adjacent to the University of North Texas.
“Having managed student housing investments on behalf of various client portfolios for the past twenty years, we have now made our first investment specifically in a purpose-built, highly-amenitized student housing asset,” said Jay Martha, a Managing Director for TIAA-CREF Asset Management’s Global Real Estate group. “We already have a number of multi-family housing properties that serve student populations, but we are now actively targeting the purpose-built sector, which offers attractive yields and risk profiles.”
33º North is indicative of the types of student housing assets targeted by TIAA-CREF in that it is privately-owned, purpose-built and leased by-the-bed, with each student (and parents as guarantors) responsible for the rent for their own separately locked bedroom within a multi-bedroom unit. There is a one-to-one bathroom-to-bedroom ratio and each unit has a shared kitchen and common living area.
Martha added, “Each opportunity is unique but we tend to favor properties offering contemporary amenities and that are within walking distance to specifically targeted universities. We plan to expand our exposure to the sector, acquiring assets both directly and through joint venture partnerships with select student housing specialist operators/owners. We favor large public universities because of their relative affordability and transparency on housing policy.”
About TIAA-CREF
TIAA-CREF (www.tiaa-cref.org) is a national financial services organization with $866 billion in total assets under management (as of 3/31/2015) and is the leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields.
About TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate
TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate is the real estate investment and management business of TIAA-CREF. As the nation’s largest manager of U.S. institutional tax-exempt real estate assets* with approximately $56 billion in assets under management, investment vehicles include directly owned properties, joint ventures, mortgages, REITs and funds. TIAA-CREF originated its first commercial mortgage in 1934 and began direct investment in commercial real estate in 1947 and has deep exposure in the office, retail, industrial and multifamily sectors. The global platform also includes the London-based wholly-owned subsidiary TH Real Estate, a leading investment management company specializing in real estate equity and debt investment worldwide. TH Real Estate has $26 billion in assets under management across approximately 50 funds and mandates, bringing the combined worldwide assets under management for TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate and TH Real Estate to over $82 billion (as of 3/31/2015).
Contact:
Daisy Okas
Asset-Management Public Relations
TIAA-CREF| Financial Services
730 Third Avenue, 10th floor
New York, NY 10017
Daisy.okas (at) tiaa-cref (dot) org
(Office) 212-916-4102
(Mobile) 917-359-3543
