STATE COLLEGE, PA-College Park Communities, the student housing division of GMH Communities Trust, has acquired University Commons apartments for $18.6 million, including the assumption of approximately $8 million of existing mortgage debt. A GMH spokesperson declined to identify the seller, but GlobeSt.com has learned it is Birmingham, AL-based Capstone Development Corp.

University Commons is located on 17 acres at 201 Vairo Blvd., less than two miles from the Penn State campus. The complex was built specifically for student housing in 1998. It includes 17 three-story townhouse-style buildings containing 240 units with an aggregate of 696 beds, which puts GMH's price at $77,500 a unit, or approximately $26,724 a bed. College Park Management, the student housing management division of GMH, also based in Newtown Square, will manage the asset.

This is the sixth student housing complex the Newtown Square-based specialty student and military housing REIT has acquired this year for an aggregate of about $82.6 million. The others include Royal Riverwood Manor, a 250-unit facility in Sacramento, serving California State University; Jacob Heights, a 42-unit property in Mankato, MN, serving the University of Minnesota; and University Commons Norman, a 252-unit complex in Norman, OK, serving the University of Oklahoma. Also on the list are Aspen Apartments, a 120-unit property in Athens, GA, serving the University of Georgia; and, most recently, Brookstone Village, a 124-unit property in Wilmington, NC, serving the University of North Carolina-Wilmington. The 2006 acquisitions increase GMH's student housing portfolio to 60 properties, encompassing an aggregate of 11,200 units and 36,576 beds.