A joint venture between real estate investment firms AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets and Blue Vista Capital Management has purchased University Center Chicago, a 1,732-bed student-housing complex located at 525 S. State St. in Chicago’s South Loop district.
Educational Advancement Fund sold the asset to the joint venture for $201 million.
“This was a highly complex transaction and the first-of-its-kind in this market,” said John Jaeger, an executive vice president in CBRE's investment properties group, and MJ Zaring, a vice president in CBRE's institutional properties group. “It is the largest single asset student housing transaction year-to-date and one of the top three of all time.”
University Center Chicago is a multi-function, student housing facility that was jointly developed in 2004 by three major universities in Chicago – Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University. Located in the South Loop of Chicago, the UCC is a 702,000-gross-square-foot property offering student housing, dining facilities, recreational areas, music practice rooms, conference center operations and ground floor retail space.
As part of the transaction, the three universities each negotiated a long-term lease to remain in the facility.
