Raleigh Real Estate Company reinforces strength of student housing market with recent hiring announcement
RALEIGH, NC – March 2, 2009 – The Preiss Company (“TPCO”), the largest provider of off-campus student housing at North Carolina State University, Clemson University, Auburn University in Alabama, and the University of Texas in Austin and the second largest provider at UNC Charlotte, is proud to announce the company’s recent new hires at six of their off-campus student housing properties. Twenty-nine new employees were added to the TPCO team during the months of January and February – a move that continues to reinforce the company’s strength in the student housing industry.
The greatest growth occurred at TPCO’s property in Texas with 14 new team members joining University Estates at Austin and University Village at Austin. South Carolina properties University Village at Clemson and University Village at the Coast, the company’s newest acquisition, added seven staff; University Village at Auburn in Alabama hired five; and University Village at Charlotte in North Carolina hired three.
Kirk Preiss, company Chief Financial Officer, says that despite the sluggish housing and real estate market, student housing continues to remain robust. In the November/December 2008 issue of Apartment Finance Today, in an article entitled “Recession Proof?” by Bendix Anderson, Preiss confirmed the soundness of student housing by saying, “Education is one of the last things people give up.” The article discusses how student-housing developers are finding places to succeed, despite tough economic times and states that “even before the economy weakened, college enrollment was expected to grow 11 percent between 2003 and 2013, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.”
TPCO is currently the 12th largest student-housing provider in the nation and is looking to continue increasing their national footprint. The company has acquired $356 million in student housing and is expecting to add another $30 Million by the end of the year.
“As The Preiss Company continues to seek investment opportunities, based on opportunity and risk, we’re also aware of the current economic climate and understand that more students will be looking for affordable housing,” says Preiss. “As a company, we continue to focus on green improvements and cost saving measures in utilities that will make our properties perform better and will drop costs to our residents.”
Preiss says that the trend in growing his company’s property staff will continue as TPCO will be focusing more on university relations, resident life, and growing their renewals and referrals.
“Moving forward, it is important for us to continue to recruit and retain qualified, personable, and service-oriented team members,” Preiss adds. “Our corporate mission is to ‘Provide the Best Student Living Experience Anywhere’ and to do that, we need to hire individuals who share in our commitment to providing outstanding customer service. We remain confident in the student housing industry and look forward to continuing to grow The Preiss Company family.”
About The Preiss Company
Founded in 1987 by Donna Preiss, TPCO employs over 168 team members and provides a wide range of services including acquisition, property management, due diligence, construction management, development, and consulting for multi-family real estate investments. Beginning its 22nd year, TPCO has formed over 50 partnerships and developed over 20 projects stretching from Maryland to Texas. The company recently entered into the Myrtle Beach market with their purchase of University Village at the Coast, a 436-bed apartment property located three miles of Coastal Carolina University. For more information, visit www.tpco.com.