Hawkins Way Spend $80M on UWS Student Housing

A West Coast real estate investor is increasingly paving the way for student housing deals on the other side of the country.

Hawkins Way Capital acquired the student housing property at 117 West 70th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $80 million, the Commercial Observer reported. The seller of the Stratford Residence Hall was the AMDA College of the Performing Arts.

Public databases put the property’s unit count at 382. That would mean a breakdown price of more than $209,000 per unit.

AMDA acquired the 10-story property in 1996 for an undisclosed price. The main campus for the performing arts conservatory is roughly 10 blocks from the student housing complex, which also served as a migrant shelter several years ago.

The school signed a deal to lease the property back from Hawkins Way for the next three decades, according to Crain’s, though the rent amounts were not disclosed. Hawkins Way also secured $64.1 million in acquisition financing.

Neither Hawkins Way nor AMDA responded to requests for comment.

Hawkins Way has played both sides of the student housing market in recent years. In 2024, it bought a 122-unit property in Manhattan on West 20th Street from The New School for $30 million. But last year, it sold the former DoubleTree by Hilton hotel at 569 Lexington Avenue to the City University of New York for $125.6 million.

And two years ago, Hawkins Way paid $46.25 million to buy a 159-unit student-oriented apartment building in Berkeley.

The Beverly Hills-based investor bought the six-story Varsity Berkeley complex at 2024 Durant Avenue, just south of Downtown. The seller was Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, based in Connecticut.

Also last year, Hawkins Way acquired the 492-key former Holiday Inn at 99 Washington Street in the Financial District for $154.5 million. The property, which previously served as a migrant shelter, was sold by GF Hotels & Resorts after a 2022 foreclosure filing against Jubao Xie, who had faced loan delinquencies since 2020.

Hawkins Way Capital plans to “strategically reposition” the asset, with FCL Management set to operate the property, incorporating community dining, workspaces and a gym.

— Holden Walter-Warner