New York – November 07, 2026 -- Hackberry Lane has closed multiple acquisitions adding approximately 1,650 student housing beds, lifting its owned portfolio to approximately 4,000 beds. The vertically integrated student housing investment and operating company bought assets in Gainesville, Florida, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Deals concentrate capital near the University of Florida and University of Alabama
The newly acquired properties sit near the campuses of the University of Florida and the University of Alabama. Hackberry describes both as core markets in the Southeastern Conference footprint. The purchases add scale to the firm's in-house operating platform. The company did not disclose transaction values or a per-market bed split.
Hackberry targets the fragmented shadow market, not high-rise development
Hackberry focuses on townhome, single-family, garden-style and boutique apartment communities in walkable, campus-adjacent corridors. The broader student housing industry has concentrated on mid- and high-rise purpose-built development. Hackberry instead pursues the shadow market, where assets remain largely in the hands of local owner-operators and have rarely been institutionally managed.
The firm said the transactions reflect continued conviction in that segment. It operates the acquired assets through its own platform, and its target universities are Power 4 schools.
Reid Marks, Nick Helfand and Cameron Koffman founded Hackberry in 2023. The company has reached approximately 4,000 owned beds since then.