Harrison Street acquires PBSA asset in Cork, Ireland

Harrison Avenue has acquired Melbourn Point, a 342-bed function-designed pupil accommodation (PBSA) asset in Cork, Ireland.

Cork is household to two key university systems—University College Cork (UCC) and Munster Technological College (MTU)—which collectively attract virtually 37,000 whole-time students.

Melbourn Position is conveniently situated across the avenue from MTU’s central campus. It is also just a 10-minute bus trip from UCC and a 15-minute bus journey from Cork’s town heart.

Accomplished ahead of the 2021 academic 12 months and entirely leased in its first year, Melbourn Point contains a unit mix of 335 en-suite and seven studio apartments.

The fully-let property will be wholly owned by Harrison Street and managed by student accommodation operator Yugo.

Paul Bashir, Chief Executive Officer of Harrison Street’s European business, said, “Cork is a vibrant, growing city within Ireland and has seen its student population expand by 2.5 percent every academic year since 2018, yet it suffers from an undersupply of PBSA properties. The strong rental demand Melbourn Point has garnered from university students across the city reflects Cork students’ deep desire for high-quality, purpose-built student accommodation. Harrison Street is pleased to continue to deliver much-needed modern housing to an underserved university market, and we look forward to identifying further attractive opportunities and expanding our presence in the Irish student housing market for our investors and partners.”

Harrison Street’s experience in Ireland includes investments across 11 PBSA assets with over 3,500 beds developed to date in partnership with experienced local developers and operators.

Following the acquisition of Melbourn Point, Harrison Street is invested in four PBSA assets in Cork.