The Top Student Housing Properties by Online Reputation for 2018

The Dinerstein Companies' Sterling 920 Terrace tops the list with an ORA of 98.

By Joseph Batdorf

The February edition of ORA™ Power Rankings highlights the Top 100 Student Housing Properties in the nation by online reputation for 2018. The Top 100 properties made the cut from more than 1,500 student housing properties across 19+ review sites and ILSs.

As compared to the 2017 Top 100 Student Housing Properties, there are 58 new entrants to the 2018 list, signaling a high level of competition to excel in online reputation and to be featured in this annual ranking. Of the top five properties in this year's ranking, three are making their debut.

The No. 1 student housing property for 2018 is a new entrant to the list—Sterling 920 Terrace (Tempe, Ariz.), managed by The Dinerstein Companies, with an ORA score of 98.

At the number two and three position are two properties both managed by the Cardinal Group. Skygarden (Charleston, S.C.) has an ORA of 98 (when two properties have the same ORA score as Sterling 920 Terrace and Skygarden do, the property with the greater number of reviews ranks higher) and The Armory (Huntsville, Texas) posted a score of 92. The Armory is also a newcomer in this year’s ranking.

Across all properties tracked in the ORA Power Rankings, the average ORA score was 61.56 in February 2019, and properties in the 99th percentile scored 89 or above.

At the fourth and fifth position are properties managed by Greystar Student Living. Union on Plum (Fort Collins, Colo.) made its debut to take fourth place with an ORA of 91. The fifth spot is taken by Retreat at State College (State College, Pa.) with an ORA of 90. The Retreat at State College has registered a significant jump from the 21st position in 2017 to the fifth position in 2018.

To be eligible for this ranking, a student housing property had to register a minimum ORA score of 81 and have at least 15 online reviews. The student housing average ORA score of 62.97 is marginally higher than the national average ORA score of 61.56.

The top management companies to manage the most top 100 student housing properties in 2018 are: Asset Campus (21); Greystar Student Living (18); Cardinal Group (nine); Peak Campus (eight); Preiss Company and CA Management Services (seven each); and Campus Advantage (four).

The states with the most ORA top 100 student properties for 2018 are: Texas (13); New York and Florida (eight each); Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina (seven each); Pennsylvania (six); and Alabama (five).

Name	Company	City	ORA score
Sterling 920 Terrace	Dinerstein	Tempe, AZ	98
Skygarden	Cardinal Group	Charleston, SC	98
The Armory	Cardinal Group	Hunstville, TX	92
Union on Plum	Greystar Student	Fort Collins, CO	91
Retreat at State College	Greystar Student	State College, PA	90
Urbane	Greystar Student	Tucson, AZ	90
Residential Learning Community	American Campus Communities	Laredo, TX	90
Muze	Asset Campus	Austin, TX	90
College Place Uptown	Cardinal Group	Normal, IL	89
The Patterson	Cardinal Group	Eugene, OR	89
Aspire Tucson	Dinerstein	Tucson, AZ	89
Bridge on Forbes	Cardinal Group	Pittburgh, PA	89
The Printing House	Peak Campus	Binghamton, NY	88
The Alpine	Asset Campus	Allendale, MI	88
Haven46	Pinnacle Campus Living	Tampa, FL	88
Lakeside Commons	NDG Student Living	Oswego, NY	88
Sierra Vista Village	Well Equities	Roswell, NM	88
The Flats at East West	Peak Campus	Chicago, IL	88
Shortbread Lofts	GMH University Housing	Chapel Hill, NC	87
Irish Row	Greystar Student	South bend, IN	87
Uncommon Athens	CA Management Services	Athens, GA	87
Arcadia on the River	Campus Advantage	Milledgeville, GA	87
Rise at State College	CA Management Services	State College, PA	87
Union Tempe	Greystar Student	Tempe, AZ	87
Rittenhouse Station	Peak Campus	Newark, DE	87
Theory Syracuse	Peak Campus	Syracuse, NY	87
Bradford Oaks	Asset Campus	Tallahassee, FL	87
Hale Mahana	Greystar Student	Honolulu, HI	87
U Centre on College	American Campus Communities	Clemson, SC	87
Gates at Rexburg	Asset Campus	Rexburg, ID	86
SkyVue	Greystar Student	Lansing, MI	86
Evolve SIU	CA Management Services	Carbondale, IL	86
University Village Apartments on Colvin	Greystar Student	Syracuse, NY	86
The Eastern on 10th	Preiss Company	Greenville, NC	86
Enclave	Peak Campus	Edwardsville, IL	86
The Edge Merrimack	Cardinal Group	Lowell, MA	86
Annex of Marion	Landmark Properties	Marion, OH	86
The View at Montgomery	Asset Campus	Philadelphia, PA	85
Southgate Campus Centre	Asset Campus	Tallahassee, FL	85
Twin River Commons	NDG Student Living	Binghamton, NY	85
Campus Village (EL)	Greystar Student	East Lansing, MI	85
Collegiate Commons	Preiss Company	Greensboro, NC	85
River Gate	Homestead U	Athens, OH	85
Campus West	Greystar Student	Syracuse, NY	85
The Villas at Riverbend	Campus Advantage	Baton Rouge, LA	85
Hillside Commons	NDG Student Living	Oneonta, NY	85
Uncommon Columbus	CA Management Services	Columbus, OH	85
Highland Quarters	Asset Campus	Terre Haute, IN	85
Progress405	Peak Campus	Stillwater, OK	85
Legends at Nacogdoches	Asset Campus	Nacogdoches, TX	84
The View on 10th	Asset Campus	Waco, TX	84
Copper Beech at Auburn	Asset Campus	Auburn, AL	84
East Edge	Greystar Student	Tuscaloosa, AL	84
NINE at Gainesville	Asset Campus	Gainesville, FL	84
257 Thayer	Asset Campus	Providence, RI	84
The Academy on Charles	GMH University Housing	Baltimore, MD	84
The Camber Villas on Nash	Greystar Student	Bryan, TX	84
University Edge Youngstown	Peak Campus	Youngstown, OH	84
319 Bragg	Greystar Student	Auburn, AL	84
West Pine Lofts	Peak Campus	St. Louis, MO	84
Overlook Apartments	Coastal Ridge Real Estate	South Bend, IN	84
State on Campus Tuscaloosa	Core Campus Management	Tuscaloosa, AL	84
Randolph Pointe	Corvias Campus Living	Fort Bragg, NC	84
Vista, The	Asset Campus	Turlock, CA	83
Lofts Nacogdoches	Asset Campus	Nacogdoches, TX	83
Aspire College Station	Dinerstein	College Station, TX	83
Axis 360	Campus Advantage	Buffalo, NY	83
Stadium View	Pinnacle Campus Living	College Station, TX	83
Museum Walk	Collier Companies	Gainesville, FL	83
Currie Hall	American Campus Communities	Los Angeles, CA	83
The Station State College	Landmark Properties	State College, PA	83
The Ruckus	Cardinal Group	Austin, TX	83
The Outpost San Marcos	Preiss Company	San Marcos, TX	82
The Domain at Town Centre	Greystar Student	Morgantown, WV	82
The Flats	Campus Advantage	Normal, IL	82
University Towers	Greystar Student	Raleigh, NC	82
ARC	CA Management Services	Chicago, IL	82
Suites on Paseo	Preiss Company	San Diego, CA	82
48 West	Asset Campus	Allendale, MI	82
Eleven25 at Pabst	Landmark Properties	Milwaukee, WI	82
The One Ten	Asset Campus	Mobile, AL	82
Gates at Valdosta	Asset Campus	Valdosta, GA	82
The Vista	Cardinal Group	Boise, ID	82
Miami Preserve	Asset Campus	Oxford, OH	82
Players Club Apartments	Greystar Student	Tallahassee, FL	82
Identity Boise	CA Management Services	Boise, ID	82
Clemson Campus View Apartments	Coastal Ridge Real Estate	Clemson, SC	82
61 VANDY	Preiss Company	Charleston, SC	82
One on Centre	Greystar Student	Pittsburgh, PA	82
1820 at Centennial	Preiss Company	Raleigh, NC	82
Fisher Commons	Edwards Student Housing	Columbus, OH	82
The Corner	Cardinal Group	Austin, TX	82
Mustang Ranch	Asset Campus	Stephenville, TX	81
Place at 117	Asset Campus	Savoy, IL	81
The Boundary At West End	Preiss Company	Greenville, NC	81
Seminole Trails	Asset Campus	Tallahassee, FL	81
Uncommon Oxford	CA Management Services	Oxford, MS	81
Lotus Lofts	Greystar Student	Boulder, CO	81
Hidden Village Apartments	ROCO Real Estate	Gainesville, FL	81
AH Springfield	Aspen Heights	Springfield, MO	81

About the ORA Power Rankings

Developed by J Turner Research, the ORA Power Rankings are a monthly, independent ranking of apartment properties and management companies based on their Online Reputation Assessment (ORA) scores. A property or management company is not required to be a J Turner Research client to qualify for this ranking, which is published by J Turner’s media partner Multifamily Executive. To learn more or to request your ORA score, visit www.jturnerresearch.com/about/what-is-ora-score.

Methodology

The ORA score is an aggregate compilation of a property’s ratings across 19-plus review sites and ILSs. Each month, J Turner Research monitors the online ratings of more than 101,000 properties nationwide. Using a statistical model, a single score based on a scale of 0 to 100 is assigned to each property. This score serves as a benchmark to compare a company’s individual properties and portfolios nationally, regionally, and against the competition.