Joint Venture Between Calidus, Pebb Capital & Pragma Investments Purchases Over 3,100 Beds In A $43.5 Million Acquisition Of Student Housing

Deal one of the largest by a non-REIT in 2014

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Sept. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The newly formed joint venture between Calidus, Pebb Capital and Pragma Investments announced today that it purchased  3,155 beds at Florida State University, a four-year public university  in Tallahassee, FL. The new company, Collegium Capital Partners ("Collegium"), paid $43.5 million for the beds and has set aside capital for a multi-million dollar renovation of the properties.  CCRE, a commercial real estate finance company affiliated with Cantor Fitzgerald L.P., provided the acquisition financing as part of its new bridge lending program.  The deal closed August 7, 2014 and is one of the largest acquisitions by student housing bed count so far this year.

There are approximately 10,000 on-campus student beds and 30,000 off-campus, purpose-built student beds in Tallahassee, a city that has over 70,000 students. 

"This acquisition not only makes us one of the largest student housing providers in the Tallahassee market, it also is indicative of our willingness to tackle extremely complicated value-add projects," said Benjamin Macfarland, Chief Investment Officer of Calidus, and President of Collegium. "This is a great example of our focus to seek out new acquisitions with solid cash flow at an exceptionally low basis to give our investors the ability to make a great return."

The joint venture teams up three premier investors and operators of U.S.-based commercial real estate headquartered in Palm Beach County.  Each member of the venture brings a particular skill set to the group. Calidus provides underwriting and asset management; Pebb brings capital, debt and equity resources; and Pragma oversees capital improvements and rebranding efforts.  Collegium selected Peak Campus Management to provide full-service property management for the portfolio.  With this management contract, Peak will manage nearly 35,000 beds nationwide.

"This acquisition will bring the Collegium student housing portfolio to approximately 6,000 beds with three additional closings scheduled for the second half of this year," said Todd Rosenberg, CEO of Pebb Capital. "Our plan is to help Collegium achieve its goals with a sophisticated, dedicated capital source to grow its holdings into one of the largest privately held student housing portfolios in the country."

Calidus Holdings (www.calidus.co) owns and manages U.S.-based commercial real estate assets working with some of the most prestigious family offices in Palm Beach, institutional investors and Wall Street lenders. Formed in 2011 Calidus its principals, Jonathan Cameron-Hayes and Benjamin Macfarland have closed over $125,000,000 in real estate deals in the last twelve months primarily in student housing, self storage, and office assets in multiple markets.  The Calidus team is well established to identify, underwrite, and asset manage all types of real estate and report to the standards of large financial institutions.

Pebb Capital (www.pebbcapital.com) is a real estate private equity platform started in 2014 by Jeff and Todd Rosenberg, real estate developers and owners of approximately 2 million square feet of office and retail, over 200 acres of residential land and a combined 50 years of commercial real estate experience.  Joined by Ian Horowitz, a former hedge fund trader and Carlos Jimenez a former commercial real estate banker, Pebb Capital leverages this combination of experience partnering with best in class sponsor relationships and co-investing in a wide variety of asset classes and geographies.  The platform's goal is to invest the family's capital across a diversified investment portfolio with the predominance being invested in real estate.  Since its inception in March 2014, Pebb Capital has already formed multiple joint ventures and closed approximately $100,000,000 in real estate transactions.  Given the existing portfolio cash flow and liquidity, Pebb Capital continues to seek similar strategic partners to grow its holdings.

Pragma Investments (www.pragmainvestments.com) focuses on the acquisition of undervalued student housing properties that can be re-adapted to a unique college lifestyle brand of student housing that maximizes value by capturing the rapidly growing college market. Pragma's acquisition focus is on growing state universities. The principals of Pragma have completed over $500 Million in real estate transactions, value-add management, and maintain strong relationships with its targeted universities.

Peak Campus Management (www.peakcampus.com) is an institutional-grade property management company based in Atlanta, Georgia, focused exclusively on the student housing space.  The Company's seasoned professionals offer the strategies and proven ability to execute on the goals and long term investment strategies for a diverse and growing number of real estate investors.  Peak Campus Management currently oversees 66 assets at nearly 35,000 beds, with a combined valuation of nearly $2 billion for investors nationwide.  For more information on Peak Campus and its full array of real estate solutions, please visit www.PeakCampus.com.

SOURCE Calidus Holdings