The Board of Regents (BOR) of the University System of Georgia (USG) has selected Corvias Campus Living (Corvias Group) to develop, construct, manage and maintain student housing through a P3 deal.

After a competitive bid process began in April 2014, the University System selected Corvias Campus Living for a US$517 million agreement to develop 3,683 new beds and manage 6,195 existing beds of on-campus housing for nine institutions with the University System.

The project will be developed on a design, build, finance, operate and maintain basis. The contract period is 65 years.

The participating campuses are:

• Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,
• Armstrong State University,
• College of Coastal Georgia,
• Columbus State University,
• Dalton State College,
• East Georgia State College,
• Georgia Regents University,
• Georgia State University and
• University of North Georgia.

The new facilities are scheduled to be ready for students in fall 2016.

Each campus approach will be tailored to the needs of the individual institutions, allowing the campus to attract, educate, retain and graduate a growing number of students. The University System will retain oversight of the campus-housing partnership, have a governance process in place and campuses will continue to be responsible for residence life programming for students.

Corvias' unique P3 model offers long-term financial, operational, construction and design components, creating significant benefits, including:

• Performance-based fees, which tie compensation to metrics, are awarded at the discretion of the BOR and individual campuses to ensure alignment of interests between Corvias and the USG.
• A reinvestment account that is projected to exceed $2 billion over the life of the partnership will ensure that all facilities are left in like-new condition at the end of the 65-year program. These guaranteed funds allow each building to go through minor renovations, major renovations and full replacements five times without requiring additional capital.
• $5.6 million of up-front funding for capital repairs and renovations to take place in the first year on existing housing. This allows all residence halls to improve.
• Local economic impact in the state of Georgia; Corvias has already hired seven Georgia-based architecture, engineering and construction firms, and will seek additional subcontractors.

Chancellor Hank Huckaby commented:

Quality, safe, affordable housing for students is our priority. We expect our initiative will generate innovation, operating efficiencies and best practices in student housing to improve the quality of the on-campus housing experience for our students.

Kurt Ehlers, Managing Director of Corvias Campus Living added:

The partnership focuses on doing the right thing - providing affordable on-campus housing for USG students while also setting the stage for positive change in student housing. We look forward to working with the BOR to enliven the true meaning of a partnership.

The partnership represents a unique approach in student housing because it is the first time a state system has initiated the privatization of student housing through a portfolio of campuses.