Goldman Sachs Buys Student Highrise in Seattle for $126M

Goldman Sachs has picked up a 597-bed student housing highrise in Seattle’s University District for $126.4 million.

A Dallas affiliate of the New York-based investment bank bought the 21-story, 226-unit tower at 4126 12th Ave NE, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.

The seller was Greystar, based in South Carolina, which two years ago developed The Accolade tower three blocks east of the University of Washington campus.

The deal works out to $559,292 per unit, or $211,725 per bed.

The $126.4 million price is nearly 13 percent less than what a Greystar executive said the development would cost in 2020, but $3.4 million more than the county’s assessed valuation, according to the Business Journal.

The Accolade, which has a rooftop “parklet” with a “grassy hill,” was built with other multifamily towers in the University District after Seattle upzoned the neighborhood ahead of Link light rail.

The highrise is a block from the Link station and a block from a larger pair of student towers with 1,550 beds developed by Landmark Properties, based in Georgia.

Rents at The Accolade range from $1,135 to $3,538 for units ranging from 387 to 1,508 square feet, according to Apartments.com.

The purchase comes as student housing rent growth around UW has fallen 1.5 percent, according to Yardi Matrix, which reported that UW was among 22 schools that saw average rents decline.

At the same time, rents grew by 5.8 percent across the U.S., according to Yardi’s October report. Schools with the weakest rent growth over the past year are in urban markets where student housing supply competes with a weaker multifamily market.

The UW private student housing market added 1,674 beds in 2023, among the nation’s top markets for student housing growth.

— Dana Bartholomew