Animal house: University of Iowa lists 1,000-student dorm for $45M

The University of Iowa is asking $45 million for a dorm that houses more than 1,000 students.

Selling the building is part of the university’s five-year plan to improve student housing, which includes renovating two existing dorms and building a new one on the east side of the Iowa City campus. The school listed its Mayflower Residence Hall at 1110 North Dubuque Street on Realtor.com on June 21, the website shows, with Jeff Edberg of Lepic-Kroeger Realtors as the listing agent. Edberg could not be immediately reached for comment on the listing. 

The university plans to keep the dorm in use for 2023-2024 academic year, and deliver it to the buyer next summer. A spokesperson for UI said the school will consider local, regional and national buyers, with bids going through a due diligence process. The building could remain student housing under its new owner, or be repurposed for senior, workforce or mixed-use housing, the spokesperson said. 

Built in 1968 on more than 4 acres, the 326,000-square-foot facility includes rooms and furnishings for 1,015 residents, retail space, lounges, classrooms, and a gym, according to the listing. The building also has management and maintenance facilities, the listing shows.

The university’s Board of Regents approved the plan to sell in February, documents show. It is the second-largest of its 11 dorms, and the only one being sold in its effort to revitalize student housing. Mayflower was the least-requested dorm by students, and the dorm with the most transfers to other housing, according to the university. First-year residents in Mayflower had the lowest retention rates of any dorm, as well as lower grade point averages, the university reported. 

In terms of student opinion, Reddit user BAMB000ZLED claimed Mayflower “[is] really not that bad,” on a forum dedicated to the university. High praise. 

As universities across the country struggle to maintain student housing, it’s become an appealing sector for real estate investors and developers. Blackstone has gotten in on the action –– in April last year the firm dropped $12.8 billion to acquire the student housing provider American Campus Communities. 

The Chicago-based firm CA Ventures, which specializes in student and senior housing, is planning a second student housing project near the University of Southern California’s Los Angeles campus. Educational Housing Services, a Brooklyn-based student housing non-profit, bought New York City’s last women-only apartment, the Webster Apartments, for $52.5 million in April.