student housing construction remains on pace, with interior virus alternations

In recent weeks, a construction company has completed work on a new 76-unit student housing complex in Sherman, Texas that will serve students attending Austin College.

A $134 million student housing community on the campus of the University of Miami is opening this fall, with more than 1,100 units.

In Berkeley, California, plans are now underway for the construction of a 40-unit student housing project that will go up adjacent to the University of California campus, a project that is expected to cost $13 million to build.

These, and other projects across the country, point to a still-vibrant student housing construction market. But a new industry report indicates that the accoutrements of student housing space have changed since the Covid-19 outbreak.

Those new features, according to the publication Building Design + Construction, are increasingly seeing the appearances of small sinks in bedroom units, allowing for more frequent hand-washing without trips to bathrooms shared by all of the residents on a single floor.

Resident hall common spaces where students usually study together are also seeing new configurations, says the publication, noting, “We have seen the separation of large spaces into smaller group settings,” while more and more buildings are installing such touchless features as elevator card swipes, automatic front door openers, and keycard touchpads.

The pandemic is additionally seeing a greater movement towards single occupancy spaces for students, says the report, adding: “Micro apartment units that offer the privacy and independence of single occupancy along with proximity to main campus, and the affordability of small footprints, may have renewed relevance and interest in the Covid-19 era.”

That the need for student housing remains constant, despite the pandemic, is seen in a new report by the publication Realpage, which notes that “pre-leasing for student housing has continued to gain momentum, though at a slower pace than in past years.”
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The publication added that as of last month more than 82 percent of campus housing units were already rented out, a figure just several points below the summer 2019 rate.

By Garry Boulard

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