CRG, a national real estate development and investment firm, has delivered two off-campus student housing communities: Chapter Madison, neighboring the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Chapter Eugene, near the University of Oregon. Both developments are located within a five-minute walk of the core campus.

Chapter Eugene is a 12-story, 302-bed student housing community adjacent to the University of Oregon. Designed by Jackson | Main Architecture, Chapter Eugene offers a mix of studio to five-bedroom units, each outfitted with modern amenities, including a 5,000-square-foot rooftop deck. Chapter Madison is a 10-story, 534-bed student housing development situated in the heart of Madison’s historic Greenbush neighborhood, designed by Lamar Johnson Collaborative.

“Delivering these two projects on time and with such strong pre-leasing numbers underscores the demand for high-quality student housing in these markets,” said JJ Smith, executive vice president and partner for CRG’s residential group.

CRG along with partner Landmark Properties completed the sale of The Standard at Columbia, a new 17-story, 678-bed student housing tower at 1401 Assembly St. in Columbia, S.C. The buyer is CapitaLand, a Singapore-based investment firm.

The Standard at Columbia, which opened last summer, was 91.3% occupied for the 2023-24 academic year and is 98.1% pre-leased for the upcoming year. It is located on an urban-infill site in the Arsenal Hill neighborhood, near the University of South Carolina campus.

The Standard at Columbia features 678 beds across 247 fully furnished studio to five-bedroom units. A generous amenity package includes a resort-style rooftop pool with sun shelves, jumbotron, fire pit and outdoor grilling stations; complimentary tanning beds; fitness center; multi-sport simulator; academic lounge with private study rooms and computer lab; resident clubroom; bike storage; and garage parking with EV charging stations.

CRG parent company Clayco served as general contractor on the development, while Clayco subsidiary Lamar Johnson Collaborative was the architect.

Courtesy of J.J. Smith

J.J. Smith and his wife, Julia Smith

Downtown luxury apartment buildings have taken a beating from the coronavirus pandemic this year, but middle-class and workforce housing in the suburbs has fared better, and CRG, the development arm of Chicago-based Clayco, said now is the time to launch a major effort in workforce housing. 

The firm plans to develop $1B of apartments in nearly a dozen metro areas, CRG Managing Partner J.J. Smith told Crain’s Chicago Business.

The Sun Belt will figure heavily in CRG’s plans. CRG will look at potential projects, each with several hundred units, in the Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Dallas, Nashville and Phoenix regions, among others, he said.

The apartments will have rents affordable to those earning between 80% to 120% of area median income. Experts say less expensive suburban developments have generally kept their occupancy rates higher than luxury buildings in dense urban cores as more tenants look for less-crowded homes. 

“What we’re trying to do is build for the masses and not the classes,” Smith told Crain’s.

CRG brought Smith on board to run its residential division in March. He had spent more than a decade at CA Ventures, where he became president of CA Student Living and helped launch more than 40,000 units of housing. 

Smith said many developers spent the past 10 years building luxury skyscrapers that most people can’t afford, and that market might be oversaturated. 

“I think the middle class has largely been underserved from a new product perspective,” he said. “We’ll do well serving that segment.”