Greystar returns to PBSA market in Spain with acquisition in Madrid

• Greystar has acquired a 435-bed PBSA asset, which is fully permitted freehold plot.
• Asset will operate under Greystar’s Canvas brand and open before the end of 2025. 
• Canvas is now in five countries realising Greystar’s ambition to launch a pan-European brand.

Madrid, 28 November 2023 – Greystar Real Estate Partners, LLC (“Greystar”), a global leader in the investment, development, and management of high-quality real estate, including rental housing, logistics, and life sciences, has agreed to acquire an attractive purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”) site at the Madrid Autonomous University’s (UAM) Cantoblanco Campus from TPG and Urbania.

The acquisition marks Greystar’s return to PBSA in Spain following the successful sale of the RESA platform in August 2022. The asset will operate under its pan-European brand Canvas, which was developed entirely in-house and launched last year. There are currently 12 operational assets and a further 7 in the pipeline comprising more than 9,000 beds and offering next-generation student accommodation and young professional housing in university cities across the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Germany, France and now Spain.

Greystar will build a mid-rise purpose-built student accommodation development on the site that will compromise of 435 beds and a range of lifestyle amenities such as co-working space, residents lounge and a gym. Canvas Madrid is expected to be operational by the 2025/26 academic year.

Strategically located on Madrid’s Cantoblanco campus, the site will provide much needed high-quality, on-campus accommodation in one of the most structurally undersupplied locations in the city where there are currently only 765 beds for over 31,000 students. The acquisition reflects Greystar’s strong conviction in the PBSA market in Spain and its confidence in the long-term demand fundamentals for Madrid, which continues to be characterised by a restricted pipeline due to the lack of privately managed land.

Rafael Fernández-Villaverde, Senior Investment Director – Southern Europe, Greystar, said: "The acquisition of a fully licensed on-campus PBSA site, in a highly sought-after but under-supplied area, presented the perfect opportunity for us to start re-building our PBSA platform in Spain under the Canvas brand. In little over a year, we have achieved our goal of creating truly pan-European PBSA brand with Canvas quickly becoming synonymous with not only high-quality accommodation and amenities but a focus on providing a service that puts our resident experience and wellbeing at its heart.”

Greystar was advised by Jones Day, EY, CBRE Capital Advisors and Arcadis.