Harrison Street Capital raised over $1B in equity in the past year, and it has about 7,000 beds in its 2013 development pipeline. Its the most active private equity firm in the student housing industry, so we know theyll have a lot to share at our big national Bisnow Annual Student Housing (BASH) summit in two weeks. We sat down with speaker Harrison Street SVP Brian Thompson for a preview.

Brian (visiting California) tells us the firm has two buckets of capital. 18 months ago, it raised an open-ended core fund to compete with REITs: It primarily targets cash yield and invests in low-leverage, long-term hold deals. But its main strategy is still the over $1B opportunistic closed-end fund that handles value-add acquisitions and ground-up development. Harrison Street partners with Campus Crest, Trinitas, and Landmark, which have huge pipelines. Brian says it's looking for new development partners. Want to learn more? Join Brian at BASH May 22-23 at the Rittenhouse Hotel in Philadelphia. 400-plus of your peers are already signed up, register now!