Austin-basedAmerican Campus Communities announces sale toBlackstone
BY BEN THOMPSON & JOE WARNER
According to ACC, it 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.
Austin-based American Campus Communities Inc. will sell its student housing real estate devel- opment, construction and management company to Blackstone for $12.8 billion in a deal announced April 19. Among the campuses with ACC-owned prop- erties are The University of Texas at Austin and Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. In Austin, ACC’s portfolio includes more than a 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, ACC states it is the largest owner, manager and developer of high-quality student housing communities in the U.S.
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ACC declined to comment further on the announcement 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. ACC also owns or manages multiple student housing properties at Texas A&M University, Texas State University, Texas Tech University, Sam Hous- ton State University, Baylor University and more.
Lawmakers, industrymembers tout Austin’s growing presence in semiconductor sector
BY BEN THOMPSON
April 18 at The University of Texas’ research campus for a discussion of the industry’s local presence and national efforts to boost America’s semiconductor expertise. While UT is already home to semiconductor facilities and related educational opportunities, officials said a related piece of federal legisla- tion could boost the university’s work even more. The CHIPS for America Act, spon- sored by Cornyn and McCaul, would broaden the government’s focus on semiconductors with billions more for research. UT is in line to benefit if the bill
Central Texas could see its role in the semiconductor manufacturing space grow as lawmakers, industry members and education officials eye the area as a hub for the increasingly critical field. The Austin area is home to the plants or offices of several major play- ers in the technology space, including AMD, Applied Materials, Micron, NXP and Samsung—some of which already have multibillion-dollar expansions in the works. Represen- tatives from those companies joined U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep Michael McCaul, R-Austin,
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R Texas, (second from right) and U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R Austin, (second from left) tour UT. (Ben Thompson/Community Impact Newspaper)
is passed. The Texas Institute for Electronics, a partnership of dozens of companies and educational institutions, including UT, could receive a large slice of the act’s $13 billion investment in research and development—including up to $3
billion dedicated to new or expanded semiconductor facilities. The Congress members said a need for more semiconductor production in the U.S. ranges from personal elec- tronics to national concerns related to research and security.
Steve Johnson Owner/Broker of Realty Pros Austin c: 512-940-9634 o: 512-401-3330 realtyprosaustin.com steve@realtyprosaustin.com
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