Student housing wait lists are growing. This is NC State’s $29 million answer.
Raleigh’s soaring rents are increasingly forcing college students to scramble for affordable housing. N.C. State University is working on some relief.
The university recently got the required green light from the UNC System Board of Governors to acquire University Towers, a privately owned 215,000-square-foot apartment block at 111 Friendly Drive, adjacent to campus. The dormitory-style building, built in the late 1980s and renovated in the early 1990s, includes 916 beds, a dining facility, and a 470-car parking deck on a 2.5-acre lot.
The appraised value and expected price tag: $29.6 million, according to board meeting documents.
The request, signed by the university’s chancellor Randy Woodson, said the purchase will provide additional student housing near campus. It will also “facilitate the future renovation of on-campus housing.”
This past fall, N.C. State had over 1,800 students on the waiting list for on-campus housing as rising housing costs across the Triangle push many to the financial brink.
In Raleigh, the median rent for a one-bedroom stands at $1,375. That’s a 22% hike, or $245 more, compared to this time last year, according to rental listing site Zumper. For a two-bedroom, the jump is slightly less drastic, up 5% year-over-year, but it’s still $73 more at $1,553.
Those soaring costs are driving up the demand for more on-campus housing, say university officials.
Since August 2018, N.C. State has leased University Towers for student housing. The building’s existing owner is University Towers Operating Partnership based in Memphis, Tennessee. It was previously a subsidiary of Education Realty Trust, which was acquired in 2018 by an affiliate of Charleston-based apartment giant Greystar Real Estate Partners, the Triangle Business Journal reported at the time. The building still operates under the Greystar brand.
The Board of Governors authorized the university to sign a six- to 10-month lease for the building beginning July 31. The lease will end once the purchase agreement is finalized.
After acquisition, the university said it will complete a comprehensive renovation by June 2025.
This story was originally published March 1, 2023 at 12:00 AM.
