The University of North Carolina Wilmington is venturing a public-private partnership to finance and develop its on-campus student housing that aims to provide 1,800 new beds with both pod and semi-suite style rooms. 

The partnership would involve the issuance of tax-exempt bonds of up to $152 million, according to city of Wilmington documents, which address the issue because federal tax law requires the city to hold a public hearing on the matter and sign off on it.

But while the issuance threshold for the bonds is $152 million, the total anticipated project cost is about $144 million. By the fall of 2020, 1,034 beds would be added, with 778 more by the fall of 2021, Lackey said, for a total of 1,812 beds.

In addition to UNCW, the partners on the project would be Balfour Beatty Campus Solutions as the developer, a public finance authority as the issuer of the bonds and a non-profit student housing foundation as the borrower.

The notice of public hearing, another required step before the bonds can be issued, states that Wisconsin-based Public Finance Authority would issue the student housing revenue bonds in one or more series of issues and lend the proceeds to CHF-Wilmington LLC, whose sole member is the Collegiate Housing Foundation, a non-profit corporation based in Alabama.

The purpose would be to "to finance the acquisition, construction, furnishing, and equipping of student housing facilities containing, in the aggregate, approximately 1,800 beds (the 'Student Housing Facilities'), and amenity space, along with associated site development and off-site infrastructure improvements including, but not limited to, surface parking improvements, stormwater retention facilities, common areas between the buildings comprising the Student Housing Facilities, and demolition of existing improvements to construct a portion of the Student Housing Facilities (the 'Project') on the main campus of the University of North Carolina at Wilmington (the 'University')," the notice states. 

A portion of the facilities -- surface parking improvements, the stormwater retention facilities, amenity space, classroom and office space, common area space and related off-site landscaping and infrastructure -- will be owned by UNCW.

Meanwhile, CHF will own the remainder of the project, including, but not limited to, the student housing facilities.