By Jack Stubbs
American Campus Communities recently added another student housing community to its Seattle portfolio.
On Tuesday, November 7th, the Hub U-District apartments in Seattle’s University district sold for $40.6 million, or roughly $163,052 per unit, according to public records filed with King County. Austin, Texas-based American Campus Communities develops, owns and manages student and faculty housing communities nationwide. The seller was an entity associated with Chicago-based Convexity Properties, an affiliate of trading company DRW, according to public records. The transaction was recorded on November 8th.
The 7-story apartment community was built in 2016 and contains 249 units, according to the property’s web site. The property offers a mix of unit types including studios, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom units. Studios command rent ranging from $1,410 to $1,665; one-bedroom rents range from $1,635 to $1,860 per room; two-bedroom rental rates fall between $1,305 and $1,500 per room; three-bedroom rents are between $1,110 and $1,299 per room; and finally, the rent for the four-bedroom units is between $1,124 and $1,270 per room. The average size of the studios is 410 square feet, and 696 square feet for the one-bedroom units. Two-bedroom units range between 950 and 976 square feet and three-bedroom units total between 1,260 and 1,274, while the largest unit type is between 1,300 and 1,522 square feet, according to the property listing on apartments.com.
Some of the notable in-unit apartment features include wood-style flooring, insulated interior walls, contemporary custom-designed furniture, quartz stone countertop, private terraces, full-size washer and dryer and walk-in closets, according to the web site. Some of the prominent community amenities include a dedicated outdoor lounge and sundeck, 10-person private dining area, outdoor gaming area and hot tub, private conference center, and private study pods and co-working spaces.
Located at 5000 University Way NE, the apartment complex is less than half a mile from the center of the University of Washington’s main campus and one mile from access to Interstate-5 to the west. The asset’s location is one of its main features, sitting right across the Street from the U District’s Saturday Farmer’s Market and serving UW-Seattle, UW- Bothell, and Seattle Pacific University.
Founded in 1993, American Campus Communities is one of the nation’s largest developers and owners of student housing communities, according to the company’s web site. The company creates new developments, repositions and upgrades existing communities, and it partners with universities and third-party investors to develop and manage on-campus housing properties. ACC develops a range of different property types including family housing, mixed-use developments and mid-rise and high-rise urban communities, among others.
To date, ACC has been involved in the development, acquisition or management of more than 200 student housing communities consisting of more than 133,100 beds, and has developed more than $5.4 billion in student housing for themselves or third-party clients, according to the company’s web site. Hub U-District is the company’s second acquisition in the University District in recent weeks: on October 12th, ACC purchased the 8-story 184-unit Bridges at 11th Apartments from Security Properties for $64.4 million.
In 2009, DRW established Convexity Properties, the company’s real estate branch, which seeks to reposition and add value to retail, residential and mixed-use properties. In 2010, Convexity formed a joint venture in 2010 with Core Spaces, with a growing portfolio of student housing communities, within which Hub U-District was included.
