Greystar Real Estate Partners alongside global real estate institutional investments companies Ivanhoé Cambridge Holdings UK and Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors have launched a “develop-to-core” venture focused on funding purpose-built student and young professional housing in the Greater Paris region.
The newly created platform will be governed through its board composed of Ivanhoé Cambridge as a majority shareholder, Bouwinvest, and Greystar, which will operationally manage the venture.
With an investment capacity of 1 billion euros, funds will be deployed for new acquisitions, including ground-up developments as well as ones under construction. A significant pipeline has already been identified in the Paris region, and a number of acquisitions will be targeted over the coming months, according to firm representatives.
Significant opportunities exist for the venture since Paris has a shortfall in the supply of high-quality student housing. The focus will be on delivering best-in-class student and young professional housing with top-notch amenities and services in locales near Greater Paris public transport. It also is aligned with the shareholders’ strategies in other major European cities that have stable employment and long-term rental housing demand, such as Amsterdam, Berlin, London, and Vienna.
“Greater Paris and co-living markets for student and young professionals are major growth areas for our European strategy. At the same time, the COVID-19 crisis is accelerating trends toward more premium flexible products and services in key locations,” said Karim Habra, head of Europe and Asia-Pacific for Ivanhoé Cambridge. “We believe this is the right time as the ‘alternative’ housing market is well positioned with these trends, and Paris is highly attractive given its higher education institutions, while there is a significant growing demand for student housing. We are delighted to do this with Bouwinvest and Greystar, one of our major strategic partners across the world.”
The venture will leverage Greystar’s expertise of nearly three decades in rental housing in more than 13 countries and its vertically integrated global investment management platform. The Charleston, S.C.-based firm is the nation’s largest property manager and one of the top apartment owners in the U.S.
“We have been active in France for close to two years and have built a successful portfolio of owned and managed assets across the country,” said Hideki Kurata, managing director – France at Greystar. “Our new venture with Ivanhoé Cambridge and Bouwinvest will give us significant fire power to deliver on our plans to utilize our expertise in investing, developing, and operating high-quality student accommodation assets across the world to build a highly amenitized portfolio from the ground up in an underserved global city with strong market fundamentals.”
