Chicago-based The Scion Group is bulking up again, teaming with Ares Management on a 12-property student housing buy pegged at about $910 million. Scion will run the properties day to day, adding roughly 7,600 new beds to its portfolio in college towns across the country as big-money investors keep chasing steady rent checks from students.
In a statement from The Scion Group, the companies said the deal covers a 12-property, 7,578-bed portfolio that serves universities including the University of Notre Dame, The Ohio State University, and James Madison University. Affiliates of Ares are bringing the institutional capital, while Scion will handle operations. Scion also noted that with this acquisition, its owned portfolio now tops 105,000 beds across 161 communities.
Deal details and markets
“This transaction represents important milestones for Scion,” CEO Robert Bronstein said in the announcement from The Scion Group. He framed the Ares partnership as a way to match Scion’s operating machine with Ares’ financial muscle. Andrew Holm, head of U.S. diversified equity for Ares Real Estate, said the agreement “underscores Ares Real Estate’s ability to execute on large, complex opportunities” and opens up chances to “unlock value” across the portfolio.
The package includes primarily off-campus, mid- and large-scale student communities clustered in high-enrollment markets where new supply has been tight. In other words, these are the kinds of towns where students are not exactly swimming in extra housing options.
Why institutional investors are still buying student housing
Student housing keeps drawing in institutional money, largely because solid enrollment and limited new development translate into high occupancy and more predictable rent rolls. As reported by Crain's Chicago Business, the Scion-Ares deal fits into a broader consolidation push that has operators racing to grow their scale. Large capital partners teaming up with national operators are steadily reshaping who owns off-campus beds near major universities.
What comes next
Scion says it will fold the newly acquired properties into its national platform and concentrate on stabilizing operations and resident experience ahead of the upcoming academic year. Beyond the headline purchase price, the partners kept quiet on additional financial details, and they have not gone public with a specific closing timeline.
For campuses and students, the companies and local managers are signaling that this should look more like a behind-the-scenes ownership change than an immediate shakeup in how the buildings are run. The new landlords are big, but the move is being pitched as an evolution, not a hard reset.
