Hines launches student accommodation platform in France, buys development in UK

Hines has a launched student accommodation platform in France, making two major investments to create 1,300 new beds as part of strategy to deliver 4,000 over five years.

Upon completion, the two investments will be managed by aparto, Hines’ student living platform. Hines set up aparto almost a decade ago as the in-house operating platform for its student accommodation investments in Europe. It now operates more than 6,000 student beds in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and Italy. These projects will mark aparto’s entry into France and come at a time when the need for more student accommodation in Paris, and across the country, is acute.

The first is Liberté 1, a 26,500-square-meter (285,244-square-foot) office building in Charenton-Le-Pont acquired from Covivio by the Hines European Real Estate Partners III (HEREP III) fund, which Hines plans to transform into a multi-use residential complex including 650 student beds. The second sees Hines reveal plans f