Chicago & Midwest + Downtown + Student Housing | August 19, 2021

Scion Reportedly Talks $1B Student Housing JV with Brookfield

Brookfield Asset Management is in advanced talks to form a joint venture with Chicago-based Scion Group to acquire at least $1 billion in student-housing properties, Crain’s Chicago Business reported. It would be Brookfield’s first U.S. bet on the sector, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The entities are planning to purchase purpose-built real estate across the country. Brookfield has acquired student housing outside the U.S., and counts U.K.-based platform Student Roost among its investments.

In 2018, Scion teamed with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Singapore’s GIC to purchase a portfolio of student housing assets for $1.1 billion. The Brookfield deal doesn’t interfere with this JV, one of the people said.

The National Multifamily Housing Council said in July that it estimates the student housing market will grow to 9.2 million beds by 2031 from 8.5 million last year, with much of the growth occurring at public universities.

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About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 13-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 15-20 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

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