The Scion Group and PGIM Real Estate Form Joint Venture, Acquire Two U.S. Student Housing Properties

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
The Scion Group and PGIM Real Estate, the real estate investment and financing arm of Prudential Financial’s global asset management business, announced today that their recently formed joint venture has completed the acquisition of two Class A student housing communities totaling 1,244 bedrooms. Both properties were delivered in Fall 2020: “Verve” serving students at the main campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J.; and “Aero on 24th” serving the University of Florida campus market in Gainesville, Fla.

Scion and PGIM Real Estate indicated plans to expand their partnership in the U.S. student housing sector. “We are very excited about our new venture with PGIM Real Estate and the opportunity to partner with another world-class institutional investor,” said Robert Bronstein, president of Scion.

This transaction is strategic for Scion, enabling the company to expand its existing presence in the University of Florida market while also adding Rutgers to its portfolio. “The addition of these newly developed, well-situated properties in highly sought-after university markets expands our reach to a leading northeast US campus market at Rutgers, and marks our fourth investment at the University of Florida, further augmenting Scion’s leading industry footprint,” said Avi Lewittes, Scion’s chief investment officer.

“This transaction presented us with a compelling opportunity to launch a new strategic partnership with a best-in-class operator in the dynamic student housing sector through the acquisition of two well-located properties at top-tier universities,” said Darin Bright, managing director and senior portfolio manager for PGIM Real Estate’s U.S. core-plus investment strategy. “The breadth, depth and experience of the Scion platform – as well as the firm’s robust data and analytics capabilities – are a perfect match for PGIM Real Estate as we continue to grow our extensive joint venture investment program and identify opportunities to capitalize on strong fundamentals within the alternative property sectors.”

TSB Capital Partners provided advisory services to the sellers in connection with the transaction.

About The Scion Group

Scion is the largest privately-held owner/operator of student housing communities in the U.S. The company’s current portfolio includes 86 owned and three additional managed properties, comprising nearly 60,000 bedrooms situated in 58 top tier university markets across 30 states. Scion has focused exclusively on the student housing sector since its founding in 1999 and has invested in over $6.5 billion of student housing projects. For more information about Scion, please visit www.thesciongroup.com.

About PGIM Real Estate

As one of the largest real estate managers in the world with $195 billion in gross assets under management and administration,¹ PGIM Real Estate strives to deliver exceptional outcomes for investors and borrowers through a range of real estate equity and debt solutions across the risk-return spectrum. PGIM Real Estate is a business of PGIM, the $1.5 trillion global asset management business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU).

PGIM Real Estate’s rigorous risk management, seamless execution, and extensive industry insights are backed by a 50-year legacy of investing in commercial real estate, a 140-year history of real estate financing,² and the deep local expertise of professionals in 32 cities globally. Through its investment, financing, asset management, and talent management approach, PGIM Real Estate engages in practices that ignite positive environmental and social impact, while pursuing activities that strengthen communities around the world. For more information visit pgimrealestate.com.

¹ As of June 30, 2021, net AUM is $130 billion and AUA is $43 billion.

² Includes legacy lending through PGIM’s parent company, PFI.

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Avi Lewittes
Chief Investment Officer

T: 312-896-7968

alewittes@thesciongroup.com

Source: The Scion Group