CHARLOTTE, NC - Campus Crest Communities, Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE:CCG), a leading developer, builder, owner and manager of high-quality, purpose-built student housing, today announced that it has closed a construction facility in the amount of $52.8 million to fund its wholly owned projects. Joint venture (JV) projects will be funded using individual construction loans, which have also been committed. The equity for the projects will be funded using cash on hand, draws upon the Company's line of credit, and in the case of the JV properties, from contributed funds from the Company's JV partner.
The Company also announced that it has finalized a joint venture with Harrison Street Real Estate Capital (HSRE) in the amount of $50 million to develop, own and operate additional purpose-built student housing opportunities whereby the Company will retain a 20% promoted equity position and will earn development and management fees. Based on our partner's equity contribution and the structure in place, the venture represents roughly $238 million of development funding capacity. The Company has commenced development of three projects owned in the new HSRE joint venture, containing 648 units and 1,800 beds with an expected completion for the 2011 to 2012 academic year.
"With the closing of our financing needs for the next round of deliveries, along with the completion of our Harrison Street joint venture, we are well positioned to execute on our growth strategy," commented Ted Rollins, Campus Crest's Co-Chairman and CEO. "Our key focus is leasing for the upcoming academic year and delivering our new developments. Our operating fundamentals are strong and we have meaningful opportunities for growth. With our conservative capitalization combined with our uniform and scalable product, we are confident in our future opportunities across multiple markets and geographies."
As previously announced in the Company's third quarter 10-Q filing, one of the HSRE JV properties located at The University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri originally scheduled for 2012 delivery has replaced the JV's project at the University of Maine in Orono, Maine in this year's JV start schedule. The University of Missouri had an overall enrollment of 31,314 in the Fall of 2010, and the property on which the development will be constructed is 0.9 miles from campus.
For the seven communities announced under development, total expected construction costs are $158.9 million. The average expected yield on cost for the development projects is 8.0% in the first academic year of operations.
Campus Crest Communities, Inc. (NYSE: CCG) is a leading owner, developer and manager of high-quality student housing properties located in targeted U.S. markets. The Company is a self-managed, self-administered and vertically-integrated real estate investment trust which operates all of its properties under The Grove® brand. Campus Crest Communities owns interests in 27 student housing properties containing approximately 5,048 apartment units and 13,580 beds. Since its inception, the Company has focused on customer service, privacy, on-site amenities and other lifestyle considerations to provide college students with a higher standard of living.
Source: Campus Crest Communities