If your college students wants to bunk at the luxury off-campus Legends at Kingsville, they'll need to get on a waiting list. The 504-bed off-campus project at Texas A&M Kingsville was fully leased for the coming school in about seven weeks.
Dallas-based Domus Development owner Eric Jakimier (here, with his family) tells us he partnered with Houston-based Asset Campus Housing to fill the new project, which is just across the street from the campus. There were no magic tricks, but a detailed marketing plan that did the job, he tells us.
1. Location
The physical location makes a big impact, Eric says. Domus bought land that wasn’t on the market and wasn’t even considered available. Zoning changes were required, but the landowner saw the types of developments Domus has done in the past and understood what we could do for the university, Eric tells us. The City and university were also very supportive of the project. The high level of amenities doesn’t hurt either. (There’s even a cricket pitch for foreign students.)
2. Early Marketing & Name Recognition
The leasing team was extremely proactive in getting in front of the students. Even with the leasing office and model coming on line two weeks later than planned, the team was all over the campus getting the name out there and building anticipation, Eric tells us. Asset Campus Housing SVP of marketing Joe Goodwin says getting an early start on a new development and being aggressive paid off for Legends.
3. University Support
In addition to starting the marketing early, Domus and ACH built great relationships with both University and City officials early on in the process, says Joe (pictured with his fiance, Ezzie Sparkman). During that process and while developing an overall marketing plan they noticed a lot of pent-up demand, so the marketing strategies were tailored around it. Another plus for Domus: in addition to the quick lease-up, they were also able to increase the rents substantially during the period and ended up well above pro forma.
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