Fountain Residential and Crosswind Development Break Ground on Student Housing Project

DENTON, TX-Fountain Residential Partners joined with Crosswind Development Partners to launch construction on 33 North, a 139-unit, 427-bed student housing development serving students at the University of North Texas. The project will be finished in time for occupancy during the fall 2013 semester.

"The biggest and best opportunity for this project was the location," comments Brent Little, Fountain Residential Partners president. "The ability to roll out of bed and be to class in five to 10 minutes is something on-campus housing has, but it's rare that off-campus housing can offer that." However, 33 North is on Eagle Drive across the street from UNT's Greek village as well as university parking, and upon completion, will be fully furnished and will offer utilities, high-speed broadband and wireless Internet and extended cable TV; all of which "are demanded by the young, urban clientele that the student housing group is," Little comments. Architecture Demarest is the project designer and KWA Builders is providing construction services.

Little tells GlobeSt.com that UNT and Denton represent great opportunities for his company – enrollment now at the university is 38,000 kids, with projections pointing to 45,000. Furthermore, Little adds, Texas Woman's University is nearby, with 12,000 students. Additionally, there is a definite shortage of quality off-campus student housing in the area; Little says student housing occupancy is hovering around 98%.

Fountain Residential Partners, launched in early 2011, is based in Dallas. The company has under construction The Vue on University Drive at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, which is 100% pre-leased and scheduled to open this summer. Because of the demand on that campus, Little says Fountain Residential will begin construction this summer on a second development, a 147-bed development called LoftVue. Also under construction is Seventh Street Station in Corvalis, OR; a 309-bed student housing project three blocks away from Oregon State University. Seventh Street Station is scheduled for a fall 2012 opening.  The company has projects under contract in Minneapolis (adjacent to the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities Campus); Sacramento, CA (near Sacramento State College) and Houston (University of Houston).

"We're a national platform; what we look at is the 239 universities and colleges that meet the Freddie Mac permanent funding criteria," Little explains. "We keep track of these universities on a regular basis; the enrollment, what's happening with housing and what demand looks like." For example, Michigan State University offers a great enrollment story, complete with seven potential sites for building, Little says. But University of Alabama, though also experiencing huge enrollment, has a lot of student housing product coming into that region, so Fountain Residential is holding off on that region for now.