Greystar Enters Italy With 400-Bed Bologna Student Housing Project, Backed by €45 Million ING Green Financing

Greystar, a rental housing investor, developer and manager, announced Oct. 27 that it has entered Italy, its ninth European market, with the acquisition of a development site in Bologna for a 400-bed student housing community. ING provided a €45 million financing package for the project, comprising a green construction facility and a VAT facility.

The Bologna scheme, called Mascarella, is Greystar's first investment in Italy. Greystar said it aims to build a student housing platform of at least 2,500 beds in the country by the end of 2027, with opportunities also being explored in Milan, Rome, Florence and Turin.

Greystar's Bologna Development: Project Details

The development is near Porta Mascarella in Bologna's historic city centre, close to the University of Bologna and other higher education institutions. The university's main Campus Centrale is about five minutes by bike or 13 minutes on foot from the site.

The property totals approximately 12,000 square metres, or about 129,167 square feet. It holds a building permit and will provide 400 student beds in a mix of standard and premium studios and twin rooms. Shared amenities will include study and coworking areas, a rooftop pool, a gym, social spaces and lounges, alongside retail and food and beverage space. The shared areas total approximately 500 square metres.

The development is targeting BREEAM Excellent certification. Construction will begin immediately, with Di Vincenzo Dino & C. S.p.A. appointed as general contractor. Opening is expected in 2028, ahead of the 2028-29 academic year.

Mascarella will operate under Canvas, Greystar's European student and young professional rental housing brand, and will be the brand's first community in Italy. Launched in 2021, Canvas has 17,790 beds across 44 communities in seven countries.

ING Green Financing Package

ING provided the €45 million financing package, acting as mandated lead arranger, lender, agent, green coordinator and hedging bank. The package equates to approximately €112,500 per planned bed. The green construction facility aligns with the project's BREEAM Excellent target.

Greystar was advised by Jones Day as principal legal adviser, with additional support from JLL, Deloitte and Studio Legale D'Ettorre. ING was supported by DLA Piper as legal advisers.

Platform Structure and Local Partnerships

Greystar is building a local team in Italy and has established a strategic alliance with Redbrick to help identify and progress new investment opportunities. The company has also set up an Italian investment structure, with Savills Investment Management acting as fund manager. The investment is being made through Greystar Equity Partners Europe II.

"We have been looking at Italy for some time and believe it presents a compelling investment opportunity. Italy has a large university population, high levels of student mobility and a significant shortage of purpose-built accommodation," said Rafael Fernández-Villaverde, Managing Director – Southern Europe at Greystar. "What sets Greystar apart is that we don't simply invest in student housing. We develop and manage it too, bringing together the capital, expertise and operational experience needed to build a successful platform. Housing is inherently local, so establishing the right team and relationships on the ground will be fundamental to how we grow."

Nicola De Martino, Founder and Managing Partner of Redbrick, said the partnership combines Greystar's global expertise and investment capabilities with the local market knowledge, relationships and development experience of the Redbrick team. "Bologna represents an important first step in what we believe will be a successful partnership," De Martino said. He named his partner and co-founder Alexio Pasquazzo and Managing Director Giuseppe Scavolo as part of the Redbrick team.

With the addition of Italy, Greystar's European business has more than €20 billion of assets under management, over 93,600 build-to-rent homes and purpose-built student accommodation beds, and around 1,400 team members. Its European value-add strategy has more than €6.8 billion of investment capacity for acquisitions and development across European rental housing, including student accommodation. Greystar has operated in Europe since 2013 and manages more than 1.1 million apartments and beds globally.

Bologna Student Housing Market Context

Bologna is one of Italy's leading university cities, with around 87,000 students, approximately 55,000 of whom come from outside the city. That represents 63% of total enrolment. Institutional purpose-built student accommodation currently serves only about 5.4% of the market, and provision is expected to reach approximately 10% even after identified future developments are completed.

Nationally, Italy has approximately 2.1 million students, while an estimated 350,000 seek managed purpose-built accommodation against roughly 100,000 beds expected by 2027. Private projects are expected to deliver approximately 7,775 beds in 2026 and another 5,488 beds in 2027. Greystar's Bologna project is scheduled to open in 2028, after much of that near-term pipeline is due to be delivered.

Outlook

The project has planning permission and financing in place, and construction is starting immediately. Greystar's next steps in Italy will focus on building its local team and advancing the pipeline toward its 2,500-bed target by the end of 2027, with Bologna serving as the starting point.

Sources

• Greystar: Greystar expands into Italy with first investment in Bologna