CHICAGO, IL – With enrollment hitting record-setting levels at the University of Illinois at Chicago this fall and projected numbers of new students climbing by as many as 10,000 over the next decade, a new “living-learning” community will be built to provide necessary residential and academic spaces for students.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the 10-tale tower took place on Jan. 16, at 1:00 p.m. near Harrison and Morgan streets. The building will stand along I-290 adjacent to the Chicago Transit Authority’s recently renovated Peoria Street Bridge and Blue Line Station, with views of Chicago’s skyline.

The $100 million facility is part of a public-private partnership with American Campus Communities, an Austin, Texas-based company and the nation’s largest developer, owner and manager of high-quality student housing communities. The project is financed primarily through a tax-exempt bond issuance with Collegiate Housing Foundation, a non-profit 501c3 organization, serving as the borrower and owner of the project. The development was designed by Chicago-based SCB architects.

“This new facility will revitalize campus housing and provide much-needed amenities to our students,” said UIC Chancellor Michael Amiridis. “By making innovative public-private partnerships we are able to address our capital infrastructure needs in the current fiscal environment.”

By the time the building is finished in July of 2019, it will hold 83,000 square feet of residence space, housing 550 beds in a mix of traditional dorm rooms and suite-style units. Currently, there are nine dorms on the UIC campus, the last built in 2007.

In addition, the building will house 16,000 square feet of shared spaces including lounges for studying and student interaction, offices, laundry rooms, a fitness center, a 10th-floor sky lounge, as well as 1,600 square feet of retail space expected to house a coffee shop.

The plans also call for 51,000 square feet of academic space in the structure, including three large lecture halls, four classrooms, several small group study rooms, a tutoring center, computer stations and collaboration spaces.

“The new Academic and Residential Complex will give our students a place where they can engage and interact with their peers in an inviting, welcoming environment in the heart of Chicago and the West Loop neighborhood,” said Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs J. Rex Tolliver. “Enhancing the student experience is one of our top priorities and it’s what makes UIC a first-rate option for students and their families.”

“UIC is a forward-thinking educational institution, fiercely pursuing its mission set forth by Chancellor Amiridis to provide an innovative residential experience for its students,” said Jamie Wilhelm, American Campus Communities executive vice president of public-private partnerships. “We’re thrilled to partner with UIC to bring one of the leading mixed-use student developments in the country to fruition.”

The project is part of a new decade-long master plot to bolster the physical development of UIC. The plot is in the final stage of development and addresses the university’s capital infrastructure needs as total enrollment – including graduate and professional students – continues to grow, exceeding 30,500 students this fall for the first time in UIC’s history. Undergraduate students also showed an 8.3 percent increase from 2016 figures, including a 23 percent increase in new freshmen.

To meet the needs of the increasing number of students enrolled in engineering and computer science programs, UIC also broke ground in November for a 50,000-square-foot Engineering Innovation Building that will house instructional space, research labs and staff offices. It will also include the university’s first high-bay structural research lab where researchers can perform tests on large-scale structures.

The building, near Taylor and Morgan streets, will concentrate the College of Engineering in one area on the east side of campus by the fall of 2019. It will provide room for the chemical, mechanical and industrial engineering, as well as the civil and materials engineering departments.

Additional infrastructure projects are in the plotting phase and will be presented as part of the overall master plot later this spring.

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ORLANDO, FL – TruAmerica Multifamily, in joint venture with Citymark Capital, has bought the 362-unit Central Park Apartments in Orlando, FL. The investment is TruAmerica’s first with Citymark Capital, a Cleveland-based institutional private equity real estate fund manager whose investors are a mix of institutional clients and family offices.  TruAmerica, one of the largest apartment investors in the United States, has grown its Florida multifamily portfolio to more than 2,600 units with 1,700 located in the Orlando area.

“Citymark Capital is delighted to partner with an industry leader like TruAmerica to invest in attractive, institutional quality apartments in the Greater Orlando area,” said Daniel Walsh, founder and chief executive officer of Citymark Capital. “This aligns with our national platform, which invests in leading U.S. markets and takes a disciplined approach to generating solid returns for our investors.”

Built in 1992 with a second phase completed in 2000, the gated community features a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, each with a private garage. Common area amenities include a swimming pool and spa, fitness center, business center and dog park.   The asset has tremendous upside potential with the opportunity to improve the operational performance with interior unit upgrades as well as the thoughtful renovation of building exteriors and common areas, according to TruAmerica Managing Director Matt Ferrari who heads the firm’s East Coast operations. 

“By taking advantage our of vertically integrated platform and scale in the market, we will be able to cost-effectively make much needed improvements to this extremely well located community, and keep rents in line for working class families who are flocking to the Orlando area,” said Ferrari. “Central Park is a excellent example of our investment strategy to buy value add opportunities in first ring submarkets outside of major metros exhibiting strong economic growth.  Orlando continues to post some of the highest job growth figures in the nation and we will continue to look at investment opportunities here.” 

Central Park Apartment is located at 525 One Center Boulevard in the northern Orlando suburb of Altamonte Springs.  It is within walking distance to a wide variety of shopping, entertainment and recreational options including the 1.15 million square-foot Altamonte Mall and Cranes Roost Park and Plaza.  It is also served by the nationally ranked Seminole County Public School District, which was ranked #1 in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) in the state of Florida.   

Shelton Granade, Luke Wichham and Justin Basquil in the Orlando office of CBRE represented both parties in the transaction. The acquisition was financed by a Freddie Mac Value-Add agency loan through its Green Up Program arranged by Brian Eisendrath, of CBRE in Los Angeles. 

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IRVING, TX – The greater Dallas market is sure to see economic growth for the foreseeable future, and the area’s most productive multifamily developer, JPI, is poised to grow along with it. Expanding its footprint in the Galleria area of Farmers Branch, the North Texas developer announced that it has bought land along Dallas Parkway that will be developed into the Jefferson East Branch luxury multifamily property.

“Our data and research, along with our longstanding tradition of keeping our ears to the ground, convinced us a few years ago that Farmers Branch was certain to offer us a prime area to invest,” said Matt Brendel, senior vice president and development partner at JPI. “Jefferson East Branch will join that submarket’s JPI inventory of Jefferson Landmarkand Jefferson Boardwalk.” 

Jefferson East Branch be constructed in two phases, the first providing 390 apartment homes and a host of amenities for its residents, including: Quality upgraded interiors in each unit; Walkability to a host of retail, shopping and dining options such as Galleria Dallas; Convenient access to Addison Circle, which encompasses over 80 acres – including over half a million square feet of office space and 120,000 square feet of retail space.

“JPI has a transformational vision for this area, one that aligns seamlessly with the city’s vision,” said Farmers BranchMayor Robert C. Dye. “We are keen to see the opportunities that this community will provide to our residents.” 

Construction on phase one of Jefferson East Branch is scheduled to start in late 2018, with first occupancy plotted for the summer of 2020. Phase two construction is scheduled to start in the spring of 2020, bringing 351 additional apartment homes to the community.

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