Donna Preiss,
The Preiss Co.
Donna Preiss, founder and CEO of The Preiss Co. (TPCO), has been a pioneer in the student housing sector. Touted as the nation’s largest woman-owned student housing company, it owns and manages 65 communities and 34,000 beds. Hear from Preiss about TPCO’s growth plans as well as its new internal technology company.
MFE: How did you get your start in the multifamily industry?
Preiss: I started my real estate career in 1986 as a broker. I helped investors find small one- to four-unit investments and was an active investor myself. After five years, I created a management company to take care of my investments and investors. After 10 years, I started doing small developments. I did my first purpose-built student housing project in the late 1990s and have been focused on student housing ever since.
MFE: What made you decide to launch your own student housing firm?
Preiss: While doing our first student development in 1999, we recognized the huge demographic bubble—millennials—that was about to graduate from high school. We had significant success in our first two years building over 450 condos in Raleigh, North Carolina, and 400 condos in Clemson, South Carolina. We were one of the first developers to recognize the value of delivering high-speed internet off campus. We recognized the competitive value of developing a purpose-built project that was tailored to students’ needs, including targeted architectural designs, social programming, and technology. This early success and pioneering led to our pivot and focus onto student housing.
MFE: How does The Preiss Co. set itself apart in this sector?
Preiss: 1. Front office and back office. Front office: concentration on culture; prioritizing the experience for the team members and for the clients. Back office: successful execution of targeted business plans. 2. Tenure of employees. Our leadership teams both in the corporate office and on the site level have worked together on average for over 20 years each. 3. Technology: From the beginning, we have used technology to enhance the staff and student experience as well as more efficiently execute our business plans.
MFE: What is most rewarding about working in the student housing business?
Preiss: Students are a refreshing demographic. We catch them when they are the most optimistic about life. We have the ability to positively influence our leaders of tomorrow. The complexity, necessary scale, and continual changes of the student housing industry keep it from becoming a commodity.
MFE: What are you most excited about in the year ahead?
Preiss: We’re excited for what we think to be some of the best student housing fundamentals we’ve seen in our industry in the year ahead. Enrollments are up, new supply is still under what new demand will be, and leasing efforts continue to outpace all prior years.
One priority would be focused growth of our management portfolio, either through acquisition or strategic third-party relationships. We have a goal of 40,000 beds by 2024 and have grown by 15% (roughly 4,500 beds) in the last five months, so we’re on our way to reaching that goal.
We’re also extremely excited about the prospects of our new affiliated business line, Iris Technologies. We’ve created a new opportunity through the creation of Iris for TPCO to leverage its best-in-class technology team as a service for other owners/operators in the space to use for all of their technology-consulting needs. From bulk-managed Wi-Fi to smart technology to access controls to audio/video, Iris will be able to consult with owners/operators that want to use a third party to provide solutions for all of their proptech issues.
MFE: Are there any recent developments that you are most proud of that you can share?
Preiss: In spite of the economic challenges of 2023, we expect to have a very successful year. We are excited about our new Iris technology platform. We are excited about the record number of development projects—five— that are at some stage of completion. We are excited about a 20% growth in our third-party management platform.
MFE: What advice do you have for women coming up in the multifamily/student housing industry?
Preiss: Speak up and get noticed. Be flexible about traveling. Take advantage of any opportunities that you are given. For example, volunteer to speak and participate on conference panels. Volunteer to work on new company initiatives. Always add maximum value in whatever role you find yourself in.
