The Alumni Connection
At first glance, the most obvious way to fill up a campus-based property would be alumni. But developers say that’s not necessarily so.
“Don’t count on alumni,” Jones cautions. “You’ll get a few, but they’re not going to push a product over the finish line.” While many alumni cotton to the idea of coming back to campus, most tenants move from nearby.
“During the course of the marketing process, we discovered that sales were only being generated within the [immediate] area and consisted of one-third alumni, one-third retired faculty and staff,” Travis says of Capstone Village. The other third were from the area with no university affiliation.
While college ties may be strong, family ties are stronger. “The attraction of children, grandchildren, friends, and doctors in the area where they currently live is very strong,” adds Pat Whetstone, the university’s interim vice president for advancement and director of alumni affairs.
The result? Travis explains: “We had to downsize the [community] from the initial concept plan that assumed at least a state-wide service area. The biggest challenge was to discipline ourselves to identify the primary service area as a 10- to 15-mile radius around the university campus, not the population of alumni currently living beyond that perimeter.”
The strategy worked. The project goes online in August 2005 and is already 85 percent leased.
Despite challenges, experienced developers say near-campus projects are worth doing. “The active adult market is a booming market nationally,” says Courtney Wilson, marketing director of Pulte Homes’ Metro New York/New Jersey Division. “It’s important to match this demand with an appropriate housing supply.”
–Margot Carmichael Lester is a freelance writer in Carrboro, N.C.