Chicago companies partner to build suburban communities

CHICAGO - Chicago-based Core Spaces, a residential real estate developer, and Harrison Street, an investment management firm exclusively focused on alternative real estate assets, said they have formed a joint venture that will invest up to $1.5 billion to develop single-family home rental communities in suburban areas.

The newly formed partnership, known as JV, will pursue investments in purpose-built communities located in high-growth suburban markets backed by strong demand drivers, such as top-tier school districts, the companies said. The company's "built-to-rent" pipeline currently represents approximately $2.5 billion in total capital and over 6,500 units in markets such as Austin, Denver, Dallas, Orlando and Nashville.

"Affordability challenges in the U.S. housing market and changes in lifestyle preferences are driving demand for single-family rentals and we believe our progressive design and hospitality-driven approach will differentiate our (build-to-rent) communities in the single-family rental market," said Dan Goldberg, President of Core Spaces.

Chicago-based Harrison Street's approach to investing in student housing communities globally has been instrumental in establishing its JV partnership with Core Spaces. Since 2007, the firm has developed and acquired more than 27 build-to-rent student housing communities, comprised of 19,000 beds for a total cost of approximately $1.3 billion.

To date, Harrison Street and Core Spaces have nine committed build-to-rent projects in various stages of development and have an established track record partnering on student housing transactions at leading U.S. universities, including at the University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign, University of California - Berkeley, University of South Florida, Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Oklahoma and Auburn University.