Doran Sells off Remaining Student Housing Properties at U of M

(Bloomington, MN) Doran Companies’ Kelly Doran announced today the sale of The Bridges and The Knoll, the two remaining student housing properties of the six his company originally built, owned and managed at the University of Minnesota. The value of the transaction was $93 million.

The buyer, TH Real Estate, is one of the largest real estate investment managers in the world, managing a suite of nearly 80 funds and mandates spanning both debt and equity across diverse geographies, sectors, investment styles and vehicle types. The firm has focused on multi-family housing for over two decades, but more recently have targeted student housing at public universities with Division I athletics and enrollment levels of at least 15,000.

Doran said the sale of The Bridges and The Knoll is a bittersweet moment as, at least temporarily, he ends a seven year development spree that began in 2010 with Sydney Hall—the trend-setting development in Dinkytown named for his daughter that kicked off the run of six premier student housing projects he built at the University.

“From the very beginning we designed and built our projects to be a notch above and then staffed them with exceptional employees who were dedicated to serving and caring for our student residents with respect. It was a formula that worked and we are very proud of our success. We will surely miss having a presence at the University,” Doran said.

Doran, who continues to own retail properties in the Dinkytown core business district, feels there is still a market for new housing at the University but has pivoted to building multi-family projects in Minneapolis and the Twin Cities suburbs and has no current plans for further student housing development.