A team comprising LV Collective and Kayne Anderson Real Estate has closed on a refinancing of a student housing venture near the Georgia Tech Campus. The project, called Rambler Atlanta, is a 798-bed student housing community in midtown Atlanta.

Canyon Partners Real Estate provided the senior loan in a deal arranged by TSB Capital Advisors.

Commercial Edge reports that previous financing for the 215-unit property includes a $95.3 million construction loan from Pacific Life Insurance Co.

Completed in 2025, the 19-story property is at 736 Peachtree St. NE, close to the university and Technology Square. The unit mix comprises studio, one-, two-, four-, five- and six-bedroom floorplans ranging from 388 to 1,909 square feet, along with almost 3,000 square feet of retail space. 

All apartments have private balconies or patios. Common-area amenities include a café, swimming pool, hot tub, fitness center, yoga room and sauna. The property also has resident lounges, coworking and study spaces.

L3 Campus and Aureon Partners have obtained a $53.7 million refinancing for the OnShore apartments, a 210-unit/636-bed student housing project near the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

A Walker & Dunlop Capital Markets Real Estate Finance led by Will Baker, Mike Shropshire, William Shell, and Doug McDaniel coordinated the 7-year, floating-rate loan with a four-year interest-only period provided by Freddie Mac. Austin Kinn at TSB Capital Advisors consulted on the transaction on behalf of the borrower.

OnShore is a Class A student housing community featuring two-and four-bedroom layouts. Amenities include an infinity pool, fitness center, study areas, a flight simulator, and an on-site shuttle to the nearby Embry-Riddle campus.

The property at 1100 Halifax Medical Center Dr. has maintained 98%+ occupancy since delivery in 2020.

Despite the uncertainty in the U.S. economy, commercial real estate remains largely resilient. The multifamily, retail and industrial sectors are all strong, and there are several strong investment opportunities in these markets, as well as in workforce housing, office and more. 

Of course, these opportunities aren’t worth much if investors don’t know how to take advantage of them properly. From selecting the wrong site to making zoning errors, several things can go wrong when looking to buy, sell, lease, finance or develop commercial real estate. 

This is why it is important to work with a CRE professional who fully understands the ins and outs of the industry. According to Steve Rich, Colliers Charlotte director of retail services, there are no more knowledgeable CRE professionals than those who have earned a Certified Commercial Investment Member Designation, or CCIM.

Rich is the global president of The CCIM Institute, and he said that to earn a CCIM Designation, a professional needs to not only have a vast portfolio of CRE experience but also take four designation classes, a negotiations class and pass a final exam. 

“It’s like earning a master’s in CRE while also proving that you have expertise and experience,” Rich said. “There are no easy deals in CRE, but CCIM professionals are people with a proven record who know how to successfully complete a transaction.” 

Rich said that research shows that, on average, CCIMs close 42% more transactions each year than those without the designation. He spoke with Bisnow about why people who are interested in making the most out of the CRE market should work with a CCIM.  

Benefiting From Education And Experience

The coursework needed to complete the designation includes a rigorous financial analysis course, which covers time, value, money, net present value, debt coverage ratio, discounted cash flows and evaluating hold-sell decisions. The market analysis course focuses on supply and demand and competitive positioning.

The user decision analysis course teaches how to identify key market drivers, such as labor force, customer access, regulatory environment, supply chains and whether to lease or own. The fourth class, investment analysis, brings everything together with lessons on forecasting future cash flows, appreciation, tax implications and more.  

All this knowledge sets CCIMs up to help their clients make the most informed decisions and avoid common pitfalls that can come with CRE transitions, Rich said.

Avoiding Pitfalls 

Rich said there are several common mistakes that CRE investors and developers can make that a CCIM can help them avoid. For example, selecting a bad location or site.   

“There are several things to consider when analyzing a site, including labor force, growth patterns, absorption, gap analysis and financial feasibility, to name a few,” he said. “A CCIM designee has this expertise.”       

Uncovering Opportunities 

Rich said that thanks to the tools he has access to and the knowledge he has gained as a CCIM, he can help clients unlock new, more lucrative opportunities. He spoke about a client who is a franchisee for a national sub sandwich chain who was looking to open a new shop. 

Rich conducted a retail market potential analysis of the trade area his client was looking at and discovered that 92% of the people had visited a fast-food restaurant in the last six months. While that number is typical in the U.S., he also discovered that 18% of people in the area had ordered delivery from a fast-food restaurant, which was 48% more than the U.S. average. He also discovered that within a mile of the space his client was considering, 35% more people than the national average were going to sub or deli-style restaurants.  

“This additional information allowed my client to better understand the location and potential success of his restaurant,” Rich said. “I am confident the information I provide him is why he has been a client of mine for over 20 years.”

He said that when analyzing the CRE market overall, he has noticed many national retail chains are reducing the size of the brick-and-mortar spaces and blending them with e-commerce and curbside pickup. He is also seeing a rise in experiential retail, where stores are implementing everything from pickleball courts and adventure courses to wedding venues in their spaces to draw in customers.  

Utilizing Proven Expertise 

The bottom line is that when clients work with a CCIM, they can feel confident that they are working with someone with proven expertise in CRE, Rich said. 

“A CCIM has the education and the experience in CRE to get complex deals done,” he said. “CCIMs don’t just complete more deals — they help their clients minimize risk and maximize value.”  

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and The CCIM Institute. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.  

GMH and CRG obtained a $78.5 million refinancing on The Dean Reno, a student housing community adjacent to the University of Nevada, Reno.

Northmarq’s National Student Housing team, led by Justin Glasgow, alongside members of the firm’s Debt + Equity platform, successfully arranged the loan. The lender is Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm based in Chicago.

Built in 2023, the 773-bed luxury property offers fully furnished and equipped apartments, a cyber lounge, a fitness center with fitness on-demand and a yoga studio, scenic mountain views, grilling stations and more. Amenities include a pool and hot tub, two fourth-floor courtyards, lounge areas, an outdoor workout space, an outdoor firepit and entertainment area, a podcasting/YouTube room, dedicated study spaces and a 24-hour fitness center.

A recent survey of commercial real estate investors ranked Atlanta as a top 10 target among U.S. metros. The market held its spot at #4 among the most attractive markets for investment in CBRE’s 2025 U.S. Investor Intentions Survey.

CBRE’s Shea Campbell added, “The metro’s diversity of educational institutions and employment sectors have driven population growth in recent years, as well as a flurry of multifamily development that peaked in mid-2024. These factors have paved the way for sustained leasing velocity and rent growth, increasing investor confidence for the foreseeable future.”

Investors are strategically focusing on gateway markets offering discounts and high-growth Sun Belt markets like Atlanta, which continues to draw interest due to its growth potential. Other Sun Belt markets that ranked in the top 10 include Raleigh-Durham, Austin, and Phoenix. Dallas maintained its position as the top market for investment for the fourth consecutive year, with Miami ranking second.

The Clear Blue Co., Urban Campus and Core and Born Again Church have raised over $100 million from numerous sources to start construction on Northview Housing Development, a 254-unit affordable senior housing community in Nashville. STG Design and Thomas & Hutton serve as the main architects, while Bacar Constructors is the general contractor.

The affordable project is scheduled for completion in December 2026. Upon delivery, Northview Housing will cater to seniors earning between 40 and 80 percent of the area median income. The development is rising at 876 W. Trinity Lane on Born Again Church’s campus in the Haynes-Trinity neighborhood just outside Nashville.

Financing includes $43.9 million in tax-credit equity and $53 million in multifamily tax-exempt bonds provided by The Tennessee Housing Development Agency, as well as a $19 million loan from Amazon’s Housing Equity Fund.

Common-area amenities are set to include a fitness center, a rooftop deck, restaurants, a health clinic, a pharmacy, a salon walking trails and recreational spaces.

Oak Row Equities and Mariposa Real Estate have entered into an agreement to acquire Aimco’s 4.25-acre waterfront property in Brickell for $520 million. Oak Row claims the transaction will represent the largest single land acquisition in South Florida. The property currently has a 517,450-square-foot, 32-story office building constructed in 1985 and a 357-unit apartment complex of 31 stories that was built in 1998.

Oak Row Equities plans to build luxury condominiums on the parcel—located at 1001 and 1111 Brickell Bay Drive—with 485 feet of continuous Biscayne Bay frontage. The site is zoned for over three million square feet of development, allowing for several towers that can rise up to 1,049 feet. 

This waterfront assemblage stands as Brickell’s largest and last remaining developable site of this scale. Oak Row Equities Erik Rutter added, “A perfect blend of zoning, site geometry, bay frontage, and location combine to create a truly irreplaceable piece of real estate.” 

A recent survey of commercial real estate investors ranked Nashville as a top 10 target among U.S. metros. Nashville ranks #5 in CBRE’s 2023 U.S. Investor Intentions Survey.

The survey found that more investors are prioritizing high-performing secondary markets in 2023, particularly those with strong job and population growth prospects. This can translate into greater potential for equity and income growth. Sun Belt markets are the most appealing: Dallas is the top preferred market, followed by Austin.

“Over the last decade, Nashville has been one of the strongest apartment markets in the country,” said CBRE’s Brett Carr. “Tennessee continues to attract world-class businesses to the state, many of which are establishing a presence in the Nashville metro area. As a result, job and population growth continue to outpace our peer markets and stand as the driving forces in Nashville’s success.”

Suggesting that commercial real estate is in a volatile phase right now is a given. But do those involved with buying and selling CRE assets – the investors – view the situation? In a recent Marcus & Millichap video, Senior Vice President, National Director Research and Advisory Services John Chang discussed investor perceptions, among other topics.

Institutional versus Private Investors

There’s a difference in approaches between institutional and private. On the one hand, institutions continue on the sidelines as “many of them believe a wave of distress is still coming and that prices will fall by another 5% or more before the market stabilizes,” Chang said.

On the other hand, private investors believe that the market has bottomed out or “it’s at least close enough for deals to make sense,” Chang said, though the “bottom” depends on asset type, location and other factors. Additionally, larger private investors are putting deals under contract before the institutions hop back in. “They prefer not to compete with deeper institutional pockets,” Chang said.

Reality Sets In

Another interesting trend is that pricing reality is finally setting in. Chang indicated that sellers are coming to terms with today’s pricing standards. “We’re seeing more sellers price assets to fully engage the market rather than holding out for premium pricing,” he said.

Some of that is due to how banks are handling maturing loans. Though many lenders have had the flexibility to extend performing loans, they’re tightening up on the practice, especially as bank regulators work hard to clear maturing debt off bank balance sheets. Because of this, commercial real estate owners will either need to refinance maturing debt at current, likely higher, interest rates or sell their properties at the going market rate.

How Much Distress?

Then, there is the question about distress and delinquency rates. In analyzing numbers from Trep, Cred IQ and MSCI, Chang said that real estate debt and delinquency rates are elevated but not near the levels they reached during the Great Financial Crisis. “There is some distress out there, but it’s not severe,” Chang said that MSCI distressed sales were 3.9% of the total dollar sales volume in Q1 2024.

As a result, Chang suggested that distress levels are “more of a ripple than a wave,” with much commercial real estate pricing calibration already taking place. While there might be more to go on that front, “timing the exact bottom of the market is always exceptionally difficult,” Chang said. “You only know you hit the bottom after the fact when you’re looking in the rearview mirror. By then, it’s too late to do anything with the information.”

Brea-based Healthcare Property Advisors has launched HPA Exchange LLC, a real estate investment sponsor that will provide accredited investors with private placement opportunities anchored by medical properties. The platform will initially focus on Section 1031 exchange offerings.

HPA Exchange will target healthcare real estate within secondary growth markets that exhibit strong operating fundamentals, stable health system environments and a growing aging population. Its management team averages 25 years’ experience in healthcare real estate, including co-presidents Thùy Turner and Robert Lee.

“The healthcare industry has historically been recession resilient with predictable occupancy rates, paving the way for the potential of long-term reliable cash flows and strategic value-add opportunities,” said Turner. “Non-high-acuity healthcare is also transitioning from large acute care environments like hospitals to well-located and well-designed strategic ambulatory care, typically closer to neighborhoods.”