NB Private Capital acquires Loop student housing tower for $74M

Venture led by investors Patrick O’Leary and Gerry Curciarello sold the building

Brian Nelson and The Buckingham student housing tower (Credit: LinkedIn and The Buckingham)
Brian Nelson and The Buckingham student housing tower (Credit: LinkedIn and The Buckingham)

UPDATE, Aug. 14, 12:30 p.m.: A venture led by investors Patrick O’Leary and Gerry Curciarello sold The Buckingham student housing tower in the Loop for $73.5 million.

California-based NB Private Capital, which specializes in student housing, bought the 27-story building at 59 East Van Buren Street, securing a $45.3 million loan from UBS as part of the deal, Cook County records show.

O’Leary and Curciarello’s venture in November hired HFF to market the vintage building, which had been converted into student housing 10 years earlier.

The 129-unit complex was 95.4 percent occupied last year, according to a November report from Crain’s, which said the property was put up for sale at least twice before, most recently in 2014, but never changed hands.

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The student housing sector has been lucrative in recent years, drawing attention from an increasing number of investors.

Not far from The Buckingham, meanwhile, South Loop-based Columbia College just sold one if its student residence buildings to developer 3L Real Estate, which will turn the 343-room development into market-rate apartments.

The story has been updated to clarify the name of the entity that bought the building.