Multifamily investment firm buys multiple Calvin Seminary student housing buildings for $5.6M

Multifamily investment firm buys multiple Calvin Seminary student housing buildings for $5.6M
Calvin Theological Seminary student housing at 2134 Batchawana St. SE.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated with comments from Calvin Seminary President Jul Medenblik.

GRAND RAPIDS — Multifamily investment and property management firm Trillium Investments LLC recently purchased 62 student housing units from Calvin Theological Seminary for $5.6 million.

Grand Rapids-based Trillium Investments, doing business as Trillium Neighborhood Owner LLC, closed on the 11-parcel acquisition on Dec. 1, according to property records. The 62 housing units span several multifamily buildings on Englewood Avenue and Batchawana Street, just south of 28th Street and west of Breton Road.

The units will be gradually converted from student housing to market-rate units, said Dan Meyering, CEO and principal of Trillium Investments.

“The property location just makes sense for market rate, and it fits our criteria and model to invest in housing that might be outdated and need some updates,” Meyering told MiBiz. “We’re always looking for new deals.”

Calvin Seminary will lease some of the units, which are located off of the seminary’s campus, from Trillium Investments before they are converted to market rate apartment units over the next several years, Meyering said. Some of the buildings were constructed in the late 1970s and mid 1980s.

Trillium Investments expects to invest approximately $8,000 on each unit to update and add amenities for future tenants, Meyering said.

Calvin Seminary officials say the property sale helps advance goals to bring student housing closer to campus.

“Calvin Theological Seminary has supported students with safe and affordable housing for a number of decades,” President Jul Medenblik said in a statement to MiBiz. “We recently sold some of our apartment units to further our plan of continuing to provide safe and affordable housing in a location closer to our campus at the corner of Burton and Breton. We are glad for the partnership we were able to enter into with Trillium Ventures as part of that continued plan and process.” 

Trillium Neighborhood Owner LLC recently completed a $2.6 million equity raise with 36 investors to finance the upgrades, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. 

“We raise up equity on a deal-by-deal basis, to do value-adds to units of amenities commonly found in market rate units,” Meyering said.