The LSU Property Foundation this morning released the names of the five firms that will submit proposals to develop the LSU Gateway Development, a mixed-use project of student housing and retail space that will be located on a 28-acre site of the Nicholson Drive Corridor between West Chimes Street and Skip Bertman Drive.
All five firms, which were selected from a list of 10 that responded earlier this year to a Request for Qualifications, specialize in developing mixed-use student housing projects. They include:
- American Campus Communities, a publicly traded student housing REIT, which is based in Austin, Texas. The firm has developed more than 70 campus projects worth $4.2 billion and bills itself as the largest developer of student housing in the U.S.
- Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions, a Malvern, Pennsylvania-based firm that has developed dozens of student housing and mixed use projects across the country. The firm is part of Balfour Beatty Investments, Inc.
- Capstone Development Partners, a Birmingham, Alabama-based firm that for more than 25 years has focused exclusively on working with colleges and universities.
- Corvias Campus Living of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, which specializes in university and military housing developments.
- RISE, a Valdosta, Georgia-based firm with more than 20 years experience financing and developing student housing developments and multi family properties.
The team selected to develop the LSU Gateway project will enter into a public-private partnership with the university to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Gateway project. As envisioned, it will include 1,260 apartment-style beds and 410 suite-style beds with associated residential support spaces, such as lounge spaces, study areas, community gathering places and retail food service. The project also is expected to include 30,000 to 50,000 square feet of new retail space. A final price tag has not been determined.
“We were delighted with the quality of the responses to the RFQ,” says Rob Stuart, chair of the Nicholson Gateway Development project committee, in a prepared statement. “We’re looking forward to evaluating the RFP responses as we work to select an outstanding partner for this exciting project.”
The RFPs are due Nov. 2. From those, a short list of two or three finalists will be selected to visit the campus. A finalist will be named in early 2016, with an estimated groundbreaking some 18 months later.
The LSU Property Foundation is the arm of the LSU Foundation that handles property-related matters is handling the development of the Nicholson Gateway on behalf of the university. The project is one of several key development projects expected to revitalize the Nicholson Drive corridor.
—Stephanie Riegel
