Hines, the US property investment group, has bought a student accommodation development in Dublin with almost 300 beds, adding to its portfolio in the sector.
Scape Dublin, a 298-bed PBSA facility near the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI) at the intersection of Golden Lane and Aungier Street in Dublin 2, opened in 2020 and was operated by global student housing group Scape before being put on the market earlier this year with a price of nearly €80 million.
The building, which Hines will rebrand as Stephen’s Quarter and operate under Hines’s Aparto brand, also houses a Lidl supermarket in the ground floor on the Aungier Street side of the development.
It was reported at the time that Scape had 51-week letting agreement with RCSI, generating total guaranteed income of €5.2 million for the current 2024/25 academic year.
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Hines’s acquisition of the facility adds to its growing portfolio of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) centres in the Republic, where it currently operates five buildings under the Aparto brand, including Dorset Point and Beckett House in Dublin and the Loom on Cork Street in Dublin 8.
Jorge Duarte, senior managing director and fund manager at Hines European Property Partners (Hepp) said the Republic remains one of the investment group’s “preferred markets”.
“The number of young people choosing higher education has grown exponentially and the undersupply of purpose-built student housing in cities with great universities like Dublin is well documented, so we are delighted to have secured another asset in a prime location in the city,” he said.
The deal is one of the first since in the PBSA market since the Government moved over the summer to ban the practice of large-scale student landlords from offering 51-week-only leases at their properties in the Republic.
Industry figures have voiced concern that the move – which means landlords must offer standard 41-week contracts to students, fitting more closely with the typical academic year – could scare off investment in the sector.
However, market dynamics in the Republic remain extremely favourable for PBSA investors, with a shortfall of about 65,000 bed spaces relative to demand in Dublin alone, according to Department of Higher Education estimates.
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