Hawkins Way Capital Buys New School Student Housing Building for $30M

Hawkins Way Capital has acquired a 122-unit student housing asset at 300 West 20th Street in New York City from The New School in a $30 million deal, Commercial Observer has learned. 

Located on the corner of West 20th Street and 8th Avenue in the residential Chelsea neighborhood, 300 West 20th is a seven-floor residential building that opened in 2003. 

The building features 200 beds across 122 bedroom units. It’s expected to retain its use as student housing and will be leased to students from other schools across Manhattan, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. 

“The timing is right for The New School to sell its residence hall located at 300 West 20th Street,” said Amy Malsin, vice president of communication for The New School. “The sale is consistent with our strategic plans to focus resources on our educational mission and best serve our students.”

Financing info was not provided on the deal. 

CBRE (CBRE)’s Doug Middleton and Jack Stillwagon arranged the sale and declined to comment.

The property’s condominium interest has been owned and occupied by The New School since 2007, while a retail condominium portion of the building is owned by a separate, undisclosed entity and not included in the sale, according to TK. However, the college hasn’t exactly been in love with the property.

Earlier this year, Thomas Whalen, assistant vice president of facilities management at The New School, admitted that 300 West 20th generated a significant lack of demand from students and criticized the layout of the building, according to New School Free Press. 

“What it really boils down to is the level of student satisfaction in this building is not what we’d like it to be,” Whalen told New School Free Press. “We’d rather use our resources in places where students actually like living.”

Hawkins Way Capital did not respond to requests for comment. 

Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com