Asset Campus Housing is pretty busy managing a student housing portfolio that exceeds 250 properties. The Houston-based firm is largest third-party student housing management company in the nation, but its reach extends beyond U.S. borders.
Asset Campus has been operating internationally for three years and, after several successful lease-ups abroad, made Canada the seventh international market Asset Campus in which it has entered.
Last month, Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors and Campus Suites offically selected Asset Campus to manage another property – Montreal’s Parc Cité. Asset Campus manages 10 other Kayne Anderson properties as part of a five-year relationship between the two companies and their leadership teams.
Growing internationally is just part of the plan for Asset Campus. “We are always looking for opportunities to expand our international presence,” said Ryan McGrath, president of Asset Campus, in a release. “Parc Cité gives us a chance to build on our partnership with Kayne Anderson and Campus Suites. We are extremely excited to expand our relationship with Kayne Anderson in Canada and for the chance to bring our expertise to that market while working alongside some of the industry’s best operators and developers.”
Student housing companies that do business in Canada face a unique set of challenges according to Vice President Patrick Flaherty of Kayne Anderson. In the case of the French-speaking Quebec province, which includes Montreal, that’s especially true. But Asset Campus has bridged those gaps before, he said, so the company’s team knew exactly what to do in terms of understanding local housing laws, communicating with the Parc Cité staff properly, and using an onsite coordinator to handle the transition.
“We have a strong relationship with Asset Campus Housing,” Flaherty said, in a release. “We wanted to expand their presence from the stateside of our portfolio to include the Canadian side as well.”
Institutional property management can present some unique challenges in Canada, particularly Parc Cité, which is a converted hotel. When the decision was made to start consolidating some of Kayne Anderson’s properties with a trusted partner, Flaherty said, Asset Campus Housing was the first company that came to mind.
The 280-bed Parc Cité serves students attending McGill University, as well as other nearby schools such as Concordia University. The property opened in 2014 and features fully furnished units, a fitness center and study rooms. A Tim Hortons coffee shop is located onsite in addition to a Chefs on Call location that provides students and young professionals with a wide range of competitively priced, quality foods.
“Bringing Asset Campus Housing onboard with Parc Cité was an easy discussion to have with the team,” said Henry Morton, president of Campus Suites, in a release. “We knew what Asset Campus brought to the table and about its depth of experience and success in the States and abroad.”
