One of our areas of expertise is student housing near The University of Arizona, this market has drastically been changing in the past several years with projects getting larger and closer to the university.

The University of Arizona currently has 24 residence halls and one graduate apartment complex, La Aldea. The 24 residence halls currently have a capacity for 7,668 students for the 2019-2020 academic years, while La Aldea Apartments has a capacity for 313 students. The new Honors Village houses another 1,056 students, which opened in fall of 2019. The new Honors Village was included in the 24 residence halls.

The Honors College complex that is described as a “campus within a campus” cost about $137 million. The project is designed to have one area for Honors students to sleep, attend classes, eat and socialize.

Enrollment at the University of Arizona has typically grown by 1%-2% a year in the past decade. For the academic year of 2019-2020, total student enrollment was 45,918, an increase of about 1.55% from 45,217 students in 2018-2019 school year. Due to growing enrollment, coupled with state cuts to university funding, made the availability of space for students a matter for private developers, since universities could not afford to build student housing.

The first private student focused complex to be built in Tucson was Northpointe Student Apartments, on Wetmore Road just north of Limberlost Drive, in 1998. At that time that was the closest developers could get to the U of A campus due to height restrictions in the city’s core. However, in 2012 the Main Gate Urban Overlay District was established to stimulate development along the route of the modern street car and these restrictions were lifted.

Soon after its passage, the first student-housing tower, The District on 5^th, was opened in August of 2012.  The District, on 5^th at 248 East 5^th Street is a student housing project just west of the University of Arizona. Since the District on 5^th opened in 2012, 7 very similar student housing towers have been completed and are in full operation. 

Four student housing projects were recently completed and opened in the Fall of 2019, three projects are under construction and four proposed projects. The four projects which opened in the Fall of 2019 are Hub Speedway, The Mark at Tucson, the new U of A honors campus, and The Zone. The four projects under construction are Aspire Tucson, Union on 6^th, Hub IV, and Graduate Tucson & The Collective at Main Gate. The five proposed projects are 213 N. 4^th Avenue, Speedway & Euclid, Aspire Tucson Phase II, and Speedway Campbell Gateway Project.

At a minimum, with four projects under construction and two proposed student housing projects, several thousand bedrooms will be added to the student housing market over the next few years. Additionally, numerous “mini-dorms” are being built around the U of A campus. These mini-dorms typically house anywhere from 10 to 50 students. These buildings are typically constructed from ground up or are converted houses/ apartments that have been extensively remodeled. Over the past few years, student housing projects have gotten closer to campus and the market is more competitive than in past years. Please refer to the following table for details.

AM Valuation Services can serve your appraisal needs including:

• Reviews
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We utilize the following industry sources:

• Marshall & Swift
• CoStar
• Multiple Listing Service
• RealQuest Professional