SUITE DREAMS
One entrepreneur offers a solution to the demand for student housing
More than 100,000 students study in B.C. every year, living in dormitories, apartments, basements and under the stairs, Harry Potter style.
The rental market is tight in Metro Vancouver for permanent residents, never mind students who come and go every few months.
Rental accommodations are in such short supply that one student was reportedly forced to stay in a $300 a night hotel for awhile.
“Her parents were not happy with the $9,000 bill,” says entrepreneur-businessman Toby Chu, president of CIBT Education Group, a TSX Venture-listed company which reported total assets of $40 million last year.
“Student landlords aren’t bad apple landlords in the usual sense as much as bad apple landlords in the commercial sense. They are homeowners who will squeeze eight students into a house,” says Chu.
“I know people who have lived in closets and under staircases.”
Chu’s company, which owns the well-established Sprott Shaw College, offers diplomas to 7,000 domestic and international students annually.
The ready-made market persuaded him to enter the student housing sector with rooms especially tailored to meet their needs.
Chu is the only Metro Vancouver entrepreneur who is trying to construct purpose-built, long-term student housing on a large scale.
He says the logic of the plan is supported by statistics: The international education sector added $1.15 billion to the Canadian economy in 2010. Although he isn’t ready to announce a completed project yet, he says plans are afoot to open a refurbished 240-unit building in a few months’ time in Vancouver.
In the meantime, he’s intent on coming through with several $40-million proposals in various areas of Metro Vancouver located close to SkyTrain lines.
His packaging aims to make the most out of students’ willingness to pair up and live in smaller quarters than your average apartment dweller. Two students would share a 450-square-foot apartment, sleeping in Murphy-style bunk beds and sharing a kitchen and bathroom. The cost is projected at about $800 a month each.
Chinese-made furnishings would be simple yet comfortable.
The idea includes a range of services, from socials and field trips to cleaning and counselling.
“Many students sit alone in their apartments playing video games,” he says. “If students have a problem, we have a problem.
“Most B.C. schools do not provide accommodation. There is a waiting list of 5,000 for UBC’s dormitories. We are not a developer. We plan to hold onto the business for a long time.”
That’s where Chu figures understanding and working in two cultures will come in handy. He was born in Hong Kong, but moved here 40 years ago.
He is fluent in Chinese and at home in Beijing.
International student Wendy Qi would like to consider Chu’s apartments when they become available.
Qi, 24, is studying for her master’s degree in global leadership at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s campus in Vancouver.
She is renting a downtown condo for $2,000 a month and finding herself alone most of the time.
She calls Chu’s plan an “excellent idea.”
“Finding an apartment was very hard. If you want to rent one, you have to do it immediately. You cannot think about it for a month,” she says. “It was a little expensive, but I had no choice.”
Informed of Chu’s service-oriented plans, she says the idea is “better” than living alone in a condo.
“If I can find a place like that, I will choose that one. I am not familiar with my neighbours here. I spend most of my time with my computer,” she says.
Chu believes this is an idea whose time has come.
“We think the market will continue to grow,” he says.