Among the campuses with ACC-owned properties are The University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. In Austin, ACC's portfolio includes more than one dozen housing complexes in the West Campus area home to hundreds of beds and valued together at more than $520 million as of 2022.
According to a press release, the transaction was unanimously approved by ACC’s board of directors and is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022.
On its website, American Campus Communities Inc. states it is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the United States.
According to ACC, they owned 166 student housing properties with approximately 111,900 beds. With its third-party managed properties, ACC had 203 properties with approximately 140,900 beds throughout the United States.
According to the press release, Blackstone’s real estate business was founded in 1991 and has $279 billion of investor capital under management. Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate globally.
The purchase, according to ACC co-founder and CEO Bill Bayless, “represents the culmination of the passion and dedicated service of the ACC team to our student resident and university partners, while creating significant value for our shareholders.
“Moving forward together, the combined synergies of our organizations will enable us to better serve our current and future residents and university partners,” Bayless said.
ACC declined to comment further on the announcement on April 19. However, in letters to its partner universities, including UT, the company said its work with student housing development is not expected to be affected after going private.
"[W]e wanted to clearly state that our commitment to our university partners is stronger than ever, and it is business as usual with regard to operating our communities; funding and delivering our developments; structuring and consummating new transactions; and ultimately in fulfilling, and hopefully exceeding, all the expectations you have related to our partnership!" the ACC letter stated.
ACC also owns or manages multiple student housing properties at Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Sam Houston State University, Baylor University and more.
