New York developers score $147M construction loan for student housing near FIU

Two New York-based developers are embarking on a student housing project near Florida International University with a $147 million construction loan.

Adam America Real Estate and JW Capital Management plan to build the 22-story, U-shaped building at 10726 Southwest Seventh Street in Sweetwater, according to the developers’ news release. Their equity partner is ARBS Real Estate USA Holdings.

The project will have 1,201 beds among 932 units, as well as 647 parking spaces and 15,442 square feet of retail, according to the release. Students can live individually in a studio, or rent a one-, two- or four-bedroom unit with common areas and an ensuite bathroom per room.

Atlanta-based Niles Bolton Associates designed the project, which will include study and conference rooms, a library and lounge area, gym, and outdoor pool and running track.

The lenders are an unidentified life insurance company and MSD Partners, which was formed in 2009 by the partners of Michael Dell’s family investment firm MSD Capital, the release says. Dell is the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies.

Records show an entity tied to Adam America and JW Capital bought the 2.3-acre development site for $25.2 million in two deals in 2019 and 2020. The property now has one- and two-story apartment buildings with a total of 53 units.

Adam America, co-founded by Omri Sachs and Dvir Cohen-Hoshen in 2009, develops and owns residential real estate mostly in the New York metropolitan area. The FIU project is the only one in Florida listed on Adam America’s website. It also lists a development in Connecticut.

Real estate investment firm JW Capital, founded in 2014, is led by managing partners Samuel Jesselson and Jason Warsavsky as well as managing director Michael Lytle.

The FIU student housing development is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024, according to the release.

It will be the latest off-campus rental complex targeting students at FIU and the University of Miami in Coral Gables.

The 187-unit Identity Miami was completed in 2019, also near FIU.

Toll Brothers and CanAm Capital are building Lapis, also near FIU, with the help of a $103 million construction loan they scored in October.

In December, Landmark Properties bought an existing student housing complex and an adjacent development site near UM for $23.3 million. The Athens, Georgia-based developer entered into a $784 million joint venture with Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust in August to buy and recapitalize student housing. It is unclear if the UM student housing is one of the properties the joint venture is buying.

Also in December, Morgan Stanley formed a joint venture with Global Student Accommodation, in a $1.6 billion student housing portfolio of 15,000 beds spanning 21 states and 29 cities.

All the recent deal activity marks a strong appetite by investors and developers for student housing, a real estate type that rebounded in 2021 when universities resumed in-person classes. It remains to be seen whether the Omicron variant surge, which has prompted some schools to go back to Zoom lectures, will have an impact on student housing this year.