In The News: Homestead Cos. Continues to Grow in Senior Living and Student Housing
Homestead Cos. wants to break ground on at least four senior housing projects a year, every year, for the next 8 to 10 years, said Matt Canterbury, President of Development at the Columbus firm.
That's just one piece of a multi-pronged growth strategy for Homestead, which is also gearing up to break ground on Lusso, an 8-acre multifamily development set to occupy one of the last blighted spots in Italian Village. The firm is also active in the student housing market, with plans to grow to 15,000 student beds in its portfolio by 2024.
The firm recently completed an active senior project in Grove City, and last August, broke ground on a community near Blacklick. Another is on the way near Dayton in Miami Township, joining an existing community in Beavercreek.
Homestead's senior division is also working on two projects in southeast Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, Indiana.
"We're realizing more and more who our resident is and who we are going for," Canterbury said. The firm offers "more of a blue-collar, affordable and attainable product" than some of the luxury options on the market, he said.
Canterbury said the baby boomer generation is increasingly moving into this type of housing. By 2030, the senior living industry expects about 10 million baby boomers to be housed in independent living, he said.
"Seniors want to stay in their communities," Canterbury said. "They're invested in them, they volunteer in them. And this type of housing allows a different segment of the market to do that."
Laura Formica, who previously led the student housing division before being promoted to President of Homestead Living, said the company's strategy on the student side is to buy property that is poorly managed or has a lot of deferred maintenance and turn it around. The company had 8,700 beds in 2020 and is on track to have about 10,000 before this year is over, she said.
In 2021, Homestead sold three student living properties in Lubbock, Texas, Charlottesville, Virginia, and one in Tucson, Arizona; which allowed the company to then acquire three properties in College Station, Texas.
Homestead is now at 3,300 beds in the College Station market, Formica said, their biggest presence in the country. Homestead U has 2,800 student beds in Columbus and 1,400 beds in Athens, Ohio, for comparison.
The Homestead U division is also working on its first development. The company is building a 300-bed student housing development near the University of Kentucky.
Formica said having "tribal knowledge," like what challenges the building faced during development or leasing, on a project allows it to run well when it is completed.