SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University’s acquisition of the Marshall student-housing complex is part of the university’s new housing strategy. The new approach, which follows the completion of a “comprehensive” housing review that began in 2019, “prioritizes student feedback and seeks to meet the needs of today’s undergraduate and graduate students,” Syracuse said in a July […]
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Syracuse University’s acquisition of the Marshall student-housing complex is part of the university’s new housing strategy.
The new approach, which follows the completion of a “comprehensive” housing review that began in 2019, “prioritizes student feedback and seeks to meet the needs of today’s undergraduate and graduate students,” Syracuse said in a July 9 news release.
“Ultimately, the review process and development of the housing strategy are the first of many steps in a multi-year process,” Amir Rahnamay-Azar, senior VP for business, finance and administrative services and CFO, said. “The housing strategy is a roadmap for the university and will guide housing decisions for years to come.”
The university’s purchase of the Marshall begins “the process of fulfilling the goals set out in the housing review,” per its release.
Syracuse bought the towering student-housing complex at 727 South Crouse Avenue from a firm whose principals know the campus well.
Elmwood Park, New Jersey–based Aptitude Development announced the sale of the Marshall, per a separate news release. It didn’t include financial details, including the price Syracuse University paid to buy the complex.
Syracuse University graduates Jared Hutter and Brian Rosen are the co-founders of Aptitude Development. Hutter and Rosen started their business by building in Syracuse, “purposefully” constructing their first two projects within the campus to “invest in and give back to the school that fostered their original idea” of developing student housing, per the release.
“We are proud Syracuse alumni and we hope that the university takes pride in our collective story and that it helps inspire current students to pursue careers in development,” Rosen, principal at Aptitude, said. “We will leave the market in Syracuse knowing we left it in a better place than we found it and that future generations will benefit.”
The Marshall opened in 2018 and is named after the well-known street located just south of the complex. It was built on the site of what Aptitude Development described as a “dilapidated strip mall.”
It now houses almost 300 students and has businesses that include Five Guys and Kung Fu Tea, the developer said.
The Marshall is the second building Aptitude has sold in the Syracuse area. The first building, UPoint at 404 University Ave., was sold to Austin, Texas–based American Campus Communities (NYSE: ACC) in 2016.
“Marking the end of an era spent in the Syracuse area following the sale of the Marshall,” Aptitude Development says it is already expanding to markets across the U.S. The firm has also opened multiple projects at the University of Louisville, Coastal Carolina University, and the University of Arkansas. It also has construction projects in progress in Ithaca and in Birmingham, Alabama with “more than 10,000 beds on its drawing board from New York to California.”
Aptitude Development tells CNYBJ that the project in Ithaca is called the Ithacan and will serve students from Cornell University and Ithaca College.