Fountain Residential Breaks Ground on Luxury Student Housing at University of North Texas

By Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

Work has gotten underway on 33 North, a premier 427-bed student housing community just a stone’s throw from the University of North Texas in Denton. Fountain Residential Partners is behind the project, having joined forces with Crosswind Development Partners to bring the upscale housing property to life.

Fountain expects 33 North to be “the most luxurious student housing” in the Denton market, which is located approximately 35 miles north of Fort Worth. The 139-unit property will fit right in with what appears to be a trend in student housing: luxury accommodations. An infinity pool, pillow-top beds, kitchens with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances will be on the list of the five-story community’s premier amenities. “By providing a higher level of finishes, amenities, and services, at a competitive market price, we expect 33 North to reset the bar on student living at the University of North Texas, as we have in the [Texas Christian University] market,” said Brent Little, President at Fountain.

Demand for off-campus housing near UTA is strong and getting stronger, as enrollment is on track to increase from approximately 35,000 to 45,000 over the next few years. The call for student-centric digs is growing louder across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and Fountain has been stepping up to the plate. Near TCU, the company is in the midst of wrapping up development of The Vue, which is 100 percent pre-leased and will come online just as Fountain prepares to break ground in July on LoftVue, also located near TCU.

The increase in demand for off-campus housing is hardly limited to the Dallas-Fort Worth area, or even the Lone Star State. National college enrollment growth will continue on the upswing, reaching an anticipated 20 million by 2018, as noted in a recent report by commercial real estate services firm CBRE Group. And with college campuses limited in their ability to house students on campus, a perfect storm exists for developers. “As state and federal funding diminishes, and as endowment funds lose value, universities across the country are finding it more difficult to add on-campus housing to meet growing demand; this pent up demand will force more students off-campus, driving rents and ultimately values of student housing assets,” as per the report.

New off-campus projects abounds. Recent announcements include Innovative Student Housing’s formation of a joint venture for the development of an 830-bed community near the University of Louisville in Kentucky. Projects nearing completion include Monarch544, a 440-bed property near the campus of Costal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., and the first phase of The Lorenzo, a $230 million mixed-use, 3,648-bed student housing development near the University of California in Los Angeles.