Dive Brief:

• Armada Hoffler Properties is joining Spandrel Development Partners to design and construct two $100 million student housing apartment buildings in Charleston, SC, according to Multi-Housing News.
• Located in the downtown area, 1 mile from College of Charleston, the project will add more than 600 new beds before the start of the school's fall 2019 semester.
• The properties group is developing the project in the hopes of easing the more than 5,000-bed deficit in the area.

Dive Insight:

A wave of student housing developments are popping up across the nation's college communities as institutions struggle to attract students to their on-campus offerings and existing developments reach capacity. Universities themselves are putting money back into upgrading and developing on-campus student facilities.

In February, two Florida universities received proposals for student housing projects. Landmark Properties is considering a student apartment building that would add 750 beds near the University of Central Florida's campus, while the University of Miami revealed plans for a $100 million student housing project that would provide more than 1,100 beds, in addition to an array of other on-site amenities.

While U.S. developers are staking their claims across the country's student housing market, foreign investors are also working their way into the segment. The Grand China Fund, a Beijing-based real estate private equity fund management company, and Aspen Heights Partners, based out of Austin, TX, broke ground in December on a $60 million, 17-story student housing complex near the University of Texas at Austin's main campus, which is expected to add 464 beds to the campus community.