Capstone and Harrison Street Close Equity Financing for On-Campus Student Housing Project at University of South Florida

$134 Million Multi-Use Facility Expected to Open Fall 2017

BIRMINGHAM, AL | CHICAGO, IL – Capstone Development Partners (www.capdevpartners.com) (“Capstone”) and Harrison Street Real Estate Capital (“Harrison Street”), the largest private equity firm focused on real estate investments dedicated to the education, healthcare and storage sectors, today announced they have successfully closed on equity financing for an on-campus mixed-use student housing village (the “Project”), including 2,200 student housing beds on a gateway site on the main campus of the University of South Florida (“USF”) in Tampa, FL. This financing was completed under Capstone and Harrison Street’s P3+ development model, a new standard of Public-Private partnership that provides colleges and universities nationwide unparalleled flexibility and control to develop on-campus, equity-based student housing facilities.

The Project will have a total development cost of approximately $134 million. The new mixed-use student housing village will include a 400-seat dining center, a 19,200 GSF wellness center, 5,600 GSF retail and 4,500 GSF office space to be used by the University. The Project will deliver almost 900 beds of new housing in Phase 1, scheduled to open in August 2017, and an additional 1,300 beds to be delivered in August 2018.

“This new student village will be transformational, providing an unparalleled living-learning environment for USF students for decades to come. Our P3+ equity-based financial structure enables Capstone to deliver the multiple components of new village while allowing the University to maintain its debt capacity for academic and institutional facilities. This will advance USF’s goal to, become a preeminent University within the State University System of Florida. Capstone’s experience with on-campus residential and mixed-use communities, Harrison Street’s student housing expertise, combined with a University administration committed to student success, enabled this PPP to deliver the scope and quality of facilities few thought possible when this project was initiated. We appreciate this opportunity to partner with this dedicated university team to deliver this impressive student village,” said Jeff Jones, Capstone Principal and USF Project Executive.

Chris Merrill, Co-Founder, President and CEO of Harrison Street, said, “We are excited to have reached this important milestone with respect to the USF Project, which will bring a state-of-the-art multi-use facility to the University of South Florida community. This investment highlights our firm’s steadfast commitment to the P3+ model, which provides our nation’s colleges and universities with an innovative and flexible approach to financing and developing high-quality on-campus student housing.  We look forward to continuing our partnership with Capstone, a best-in-class developer with a strong track record and proven ability to execute in the student housing sector, and to the continued implementation P3+.”

“Our new housing village will not only provide much-needed housing opportunities to our students, but it will also bolster our foundation of student success that will help generations of students thrive,” said USF System President Judy Genshaft. “We are grateful to have such wonderful partners in Capstone Development Partners and Harrison Street Real Estate Capital. This public-private partnership serves as a model of the kind of entrepreneurial spirit that will help USF move to the next level nationally – a goal we have made clear as part of our quest to achieve preeminence.”

Representing a model that can be used with colleges and universities around the country, Capstone & Harrison Street have assembled a group of best-in-class Florida-based construction and design firms for this and future projects in the state. The Project was designed by Design Collective, Inc. and Finfrock, which is located in Apopka, FL, will construct the five mid-rise residence halls. The Orlando office of Clancy & Theys Construction will build the dining commons and wellness facility with outdoor pool.

In Spring 2015, USF held a competitive bid selection process and awarded Capstone-Harrison Street the opportunity to collaborate with the University on the development, operation, finance, design and construction of the new residential village. Capstone & Harrison Street have entered into a ground lease with USF. The management of the project will be a creative collaboration between USF Housing & Residential Education, which will provide residence life programming and administrative services, with Capstone-Harrison Street providing asset management, and Capstone On-Campus Management (COCM) providing facility maintenance services, all in a shared governance approach.