Creating a Haven for Students
Haven Campus Communities is off to a strong start since opening its doors in 2013,
with one project opened; three underway for fall delivery, and several more in the pipeline.
H
By Randall Shearin
Haven Campus Communities is off to
a healthy start in student housing with
six projects completed or currently under
development. Jay Williams, president and
chief operating officer, founded the company with longtime real estate developer
Steve Whisenant, who serves as CEO, in
2013.
“We launched the company with the
thought that there was a significant
window of opportunity that, with our
collective expertise, we could be successful,” says Williams.
The Atlanta-based company wasted no time in launching into student
housing development after starting
its operation. Its principals all have
real estate backgrounds, and have
launched companies before, so the
company was able to hit the ground
running once the basic building blocks
were set in 2013. Haven’s first project, Haven West, was open for the
2014-2015 academic year in Carrollton,
Georgia, near the University of West
Georgia. The project was 100 percent
pre-leased before opening. Haven has
two other projects under construction
and in lease up for fall 2015 opening. The first, Stadium Village, is
near Kennesaw State University in
suburban Atlanta, while Haven 12 is
near Mississippi State University in
Haven 12 is a 536-bed project that Haven Campus Communities is developing
near Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi.
Starkville, Mississippi. The company
has three projects planned for fall 2016
openings, near Texas Tech in Lubbock,
near Baylor University in Waco, Texas,
and near the University of South
Florida in Tampa.
“We’ve been quite busy,” says
Williams.
Williams credits the quick start
with preparedness and strong capital
backing. Before launching into development, the company spent some
time building its team. Williams and
Whisenant were of the mindset that
having the right people would be paramount to the company’s success.
While student housing may be new
to several of the principals at Haven
Campus, real estate is not. Whisenant
has been a retail and mixed-use developer for more than 40 years, operating
Madison Retail, which shares offices
with Haven Campus Communities.
Williams
co-founded
multifam-
This article originally appeared in Student Housing Business, March/April 2015. © 2015 France Media, Inc. www.studenthousingbusiness.com
ily developer and owner Oxford
Properties, in addition to being active
with real estate and capital funding
interests earlier in his career. Brian
Miller, a student housing industry
veteran, joined the company from
Ambling shortly after it started. As
well, W.J. Blane serves as a principal
of the company. He has 35 years of
experience in construction and development, working most recently with
Whisenant at Madison Retail.
“One of the mistakes many multifamily developers make when entering
student housing is that they assume
the same principles can be applied to
student housing as traditional multifamily,” says Williams. “That hasn’t
always worked out so well. We knew
we had to have industry expertise.
Brian Miller had a great track record
with Ambling and brings that operational and managerial depth with the
sector that we needed.”
Haven does not have a cookie-cutter
approach to student housing. That is,
the company is not building the same
style of property at every campus. It is
finding the housing stock that is missing, and fitting the need.
“We believe that we have to take
a look at each market and evaluate
the needs of the market, the students
there, and tailor our project accordingly,” says Williams. “We will build a
garden-style in one location, a mid-rise
in another, and townhomes in another.
We will fit the market’s needs. We really have an entrepreneurial approach to
how we design and build.”
Haven West, its first project, is a
garden-style building that contains 568
beds. The project has amenities that are
sensitive to the market’s price point,
yet are the strongest in the market.
“We would really like to set a standard in every market we enter relative to amenities and technology,” says
Williams. The company has made it
a goal to have the fastest broadband
service in the market wherever it goes,
for example.
“As time goes on, having the best
technology package in the market is
important to students. That is an area
that we will continue to focus on as
we develop new properties,” says
Williams.
Haven Campus will open Stadium Village near
Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia, in fall 2015.
Haven Campus builds for the market, not a set prototype in every market. The
company also incorporates elements that bring together students as a community,
like common areas. Pictured is Stadium Village, a 792-bed project that will open
this fall near Kennesaw State University in suburban Atlanta.
This article originally appeared in Student Housing Business, March/April 2015. © 2015 France Media, Inc. www.studenthousingbusiness.com
Haven Campus has partnered with
Airwave Networks to provide services
to its communities and allow them to
stay on the leading edge of technology.
Haven West was well received by
students, who were introduced to it
while it was under construction. It
quickly leased up, and is ahead of projections in pre-leasing for fall 2015.
Stadium Village, near Kennesaw
State University, will have 792 beds.
The project has flats on the lower levels, with townhome style living on
top. Kennesaw State is launching its
football program in the fall of 2015,
and Stadium Village has an ideal location across from the university’s new
football stadium. The project is leasing
ahead of projections.
Haven 12 — named for the highway
it sits on — in Starkville will contain
536 beds when it opens this fall. The
project is built in a style that Williams
describes as “modern garden.” It consists of five buildings that have a contemporary feel. The project has been
received well by students, and preleasing is ahead of projections.
“We are always looking at creative
ways to build to the market,” says
Williams. “By that, we mean that we
don’t see one product versus another
as defining how we operate. We want
to tailor our product to the market. We
take a hands-on approach to design,
from the site plan to the architecture
and amenities.”
Haven has teamed up with Ambling
Student Housing Management Co.
to provide management for its new
developments.
The
relationship,
says Williams, is one that works well
because of both companies’ wealth of
experience in real estate and respect for
each market.
Central to all Haven projects are
gathering places for students, where
they can spend time as a community. The company’s projects encourage
social interaction among students and
the students have responded to this.
“We recognize that the way students
live is constantly evolving and changing. We pay close attention to that in
our design and in our package of amenities,” says Williams. “We don’t pretend to think that we know more about
what students need than the students
Haven West, near the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Georgia,
was Haven Campus Communities’ first project, and opened in fall 2014.
themselves. It is imperative that we
work together with Ambling to have a
hands-on approach to understanding
what these needs are. Ultimately, the
students should be dictating that to us
and we should be listening to them.”
Since Haven Campus isn’t tied
to any property type, it can be flexible in seeking sites for development.
However, says Williams, that doesn’t
mean that the company will acquire
any site and build developments that
don’t reflect projects of a consistent
quality. As well, the company moves
quickly on acquisition decisions, with
only a small committee of its principals
as the key decision makers.
“We have a set criteria as to what
we are looking for in a project,” says
Williams. “Once we are able to determine a project meets our criteria, we
don’t mess around.”
Haven has been able to capitalize on
its deep roots in real estate to find sites
and markets for development.
“Collectively, we have a lot of relationships that go back a long way,”
says Williams. “That allows us to
have good information and access to
opportunities.
While its first few projects have been
in the South and in Texas, Williams
says that Haven Campus will not limit
itself geographically.
“We are not going to be a company
that takes risks with locations. Instead,
we are going to stay as close to campus
as possible so that we can provide that
strong convenience factor for the student,” says Williams.
Based on its current pipeline, within
two years it is anticipated that Haven
will have 4,000 beds operational or
nearly complete, and about $250 million in value in the sector.
“For a company our size, and for as
long as we’ve been in business, I’m
very proud of what we have accomplished thus far and I am even more
encouraged about the opportunities
that lie ahead,” says Williams. SHB
This article originally appeared in Student Housing Business, March/April 2015. © 2015 France Media, Inc. www.studenthousingbusiness.com