Värde Partners Lends $63M On D.C. Student Housing Refinancing
Safanad and Vie Management purchased the 244-unit high-rise in 2017
By Brian Pascus October 16, 2023 8:01 am
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Safanad and Vie Management have secured a $63 million refinance for Vie Towers, a 244-unit student housing high-rise just outside of Washington, D.C., Commercial Observer has learned.
Värde Partners provided the financing, a three-year, floating-rate loan with two one-year extension options. Doug Opalka’s student housing team of Dan Kearns, Jayme Nelson and Owen Claypool at JLL (JLL) Capital Markets arranged the transaction on behalf of the sponsors.
Opalka noted that the owners created “significant value over their hold” through the refinancing.
“Closing this financing facility on behalf of Vie and Safanad on Vie Towers is an excellent example of the vast liquidity that exists in the student housing sector for high-quality assets in great locations,” Opalka said in a statement. “This new financing package gives them the runway to achieve the maximization of value before it is the right time to exit.”
The property is counting on strong in-place cash flow to continue through a dependable pipeline of local university students.
Located at 6515 Belcrest Road in Hyattsville, Md., Vie Towers sits between the University of Maryland in College Park, and Howard University in the culturally rich Shaw neighborhood of Northwest D.C. Together the two local universities boast a total enrollment of more than 53,000 graduate and undergraduate students.
Vie Towers was purchased by Safanad and Vie Management in 2017, and the firms completed an extensive $5.5 million value-add renovation in 2020. The property – a fully occupied, luxury student housing building – boasts 244 units and 910 beds, and features amenities such as a rooftop pool deck, a fitness center, a yoga studio, co-working space, and a two-story indoor social lounge.
Vie Towers was built in 2006 and originally marketed as Towers at University Town Center under its previous sponsor.
Vie Management holds a multifamily and student housing portfolio of more than 40,000 beds. The firm is headquartered in Miami and led by Ari Rosenblum and Derrick Milam, who co-founded the firm in 2012.
Safanad is a global holding company located in New York City and Dubai that has invested more than $10 billion in various real estate, education, health care and digital infrastructure projects since 2009.
Brian Pascus can be reached at bpascus@commercialobserver.com.
