TALLAHASSEE, FL—In one of the largest student housing acquisitions this year, a newly formed joint venture between Calidus, Pebb Capital, and Pragma Investments has purchased 3,155 beds at Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL. Collegium Capital Partners paid $43.5 million for the student housing and is planning a multimillion-dollar renovation.

“This acquisition not only makes us one of the largest student housing providers in the Tallahassee market, it also is indicative of our willingness to tackle extremely complicated value-add projects,” says Benjamin Macfarland, CIO of Calidus, and president of Collegium. “This is a great example of our focus to seek out new acquisitions with solid cash flow at an exceptionally low basis to give our investors the ability to make a great return.”

CCRE, a commercial real estate finance company affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald, provided the acquisition financing as part of its new bridge lending program. Breaking down the deal, there are about 10,000 on-campus student housing beds and 30,000 off-campus purpose-built student housing beds in Tallahassee, which is home to over 70,000 students. 

“This acquisition will bring the Collegium student housing portfolio to approximately 6,000 beds with three additional closings scheduled for the second half of this year,” says Todd Rosenberg, CEO of Pebb. “Our plan is to help Collegium achieve its goals with a sophisticated, dedicated capital source to grow its holdings into one of the largest privately held student housing portfolios in the country.”

The joint venture teams up three investors and operators of US-based commercial real estate headquartered in Palm Beach County. Calidus provides underwriting and asset management. Pebb brings capital, debt and equity resources. Pragma oversees capital improvements and rebranding efforts.

Collegium selected Peak Campus Management to provide full-service property management for the portfolio. Including this new deal, Peak will manage about 35,000 student housing beds across the nation.