ATLANTA-Locally based Place Properties LP and Chicago-based Blue Vista Capital Management LLC have added $75 million to an already established fund, raising the fund's total from $205 million to $280 million. With the fund, officials expect to create a portfolio of at least $925 million in student housing properties through acquisition and development.

The most recent investments under the fund are the $14-million acquisition of Allston Place in Berkeley, CA, which serves the University of California-Berkley, and the $18-million acquisition of Campus Place in Fresno, CA which serves California State University-Fresno.

Fund officials had originally anticipated raising an additional $45 million. "We were pleasantly surprised by the higher figure we were able to raise," Place Properties chief acquisitions officer Bob Clark tells GlobeSt.com. "As we continued our efforts, we got a warm reception from our investors with an appetite for these types of properties."

Allston Lofts is the fund's second asset in the market and the third acquisition since the fund's inception. The property is less than a block from campus and consists of 60 units with 116 beds, 3,691 sf of ground-floor retail, 12 parking spaces and a rooftop deck with views of the city and San Francisco Bay.

Campus Place is the fund's fourth acquisition and the third in California. It consists of 232 units with 436 beds and is adjacent to the university's athletic facilities. The property will be repositioned in the market after the completion of its extensive capital improvements which includes interior updates, the addition of common area amenities and the replacement of all roofs.

The fund's first investment for development was at the University of North Carolina–Pembroke. The 84-unit Pembroke Place will have 336 beds and will be completed by an affiliate of Place Properties in July. "We're looking for properties in high-growth areas in areas with high barriers to entry," Clark says. "We have an interest in both existing assets and development parcels and we like to be within a mile of a university."

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, US universities will add approximately 1.3 million students between 2005 and 2010 with additional growth expected in future years.