Representatives from The Preiss Company Report on State of the Industry at 2012 Housing Conference

April 15, 2012 - PRLog -- RALEIGH, NC – The Preiss Company, one of the nation’s largest privately-held owners and managers of student housing, is pleased to announce its participation in the 4th Annual InterFace Student Housing Conference.  The three-day conference, held April 3-5 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, Texas, offered participants 14 high-level panel sessions made up of over 70 leading industry figures.  The event featured two tracks: Investment, Development, and Financing and Leasing, Marketing, Operations, and Management.

Donna Preiss, founder and CEO of The Preiss Company, participated in an lnterFace panel discussion entitled "The State of the Student Housing Industry Heading into the 2012-2013 Academic and Leasing Season”.  The panel was moderated by Randy Shearin, editor of Student Housing Business and SVP of France Media.  Joining Preiss on the panel was Rob Bronstein, President, The Scion Group; Peter Katz, Senior Vice President - Investments, Institutional Property Advisors; Ted Rollins, Co-Founder, Co-Chairman of the Board and CEO, Campus Crest Communities; and Brian Thompson, Senior Vice President, Harrison Street Real Estate Capital.

“Student housing is one of the most active and healthy niche markets in commercial real estate today,” says Preiss.  “The Preiss Company is getting quite a few requests to do student housing property management across the country.  We’re working with groups that are developing new apartments, banks who have foreclosed, and investors who realize they cannot sell and must have good annual cash on cash return.  We see student housing continuing to remain robust and look forward to building on our current industry accomplishments and successes.”

Adam Byrley, Regional Manager for The Preiss Company, participated in a concurrent panel discussion entitled “Rent Bumps? Concessions? How Best to Renew Current Tenants & Attract New Ones—The Outlook for the 2012-2013 Leasing Season”.  Joining Byrley was Julie Bonnin, Chief Operating Officer, Asset Campus Housing; Kim Cory, Director of Student Media, For Rent Media Solutions; and James Whitley , Vice President & COO, Landmark Properties, Inc.  The panel was moderated by Andrew Hogshead, CEO, The Collier Companies.

Gavin Short, new property manager at University Estates in Austin, participated in the technology panel for the second consecutive year.  “From Social & Mobile Media to Energy & Utilities Management—How Technology is Continuing to Impact Leasing, Marketing & Operations” was moderated by Tim Hanson, Director Public Relations and Senior Account Executive, Catalyst and included Derek Benavides, Vice President of Information Technology, Campus Advantage Inc.; Cary Brzezinski, Vice-President – Business Development, Conservice; Dave McKenna, Vice President, Student and Military Markets, RealPage; and Barbara Savona, CEO, Sprout Marketing, Inc.

Priscilla Beltran and Frank Duran, both of the Preiss team in Austin, joined eight other echo boomers and parents of echo boomers to discuss how students make leasing decisions in a session entitled “The Renter and The Signer”—Student and Parents on What They Look for in Properties, Management & Administration”.  

The InterFace Student Housing Conference targets owners and operators of student housing and explores leading issues and trends in the recession-resistant student housing industry.  This year’s conference topics included what to look for in a management company, an investment market and capital markets update, an update by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, trends in on-campus housing, and what students and parents look for in properties.  The event also featured the Student Housing Business “Innovator Award” Gala Awards Dinner, at which The Preiss Company received The Most Creative Financing Award for 2012 for its Illinois off-campus housing property, University Village at Champaign.

About The Preiss Company
The Preiss Company is currently the 5th largest privately held owner and manager of student housing in the country and the largest woman-owned student housing owner and provider in the nation.  For more information, visit www.tpco.com.  

About InterFace Student Housing
InterFace Student Housing Investment & Finance is produced by France Publications, the leading publisher of commercial real estate news and information in the United States. France Publication titles include Heartland Real Estate Business, Texas Real Estate Business, Southeast Real Estate Business, Northeast Real Estate Business, Western Real Estate Business and Shopping Center Business, along with six other commercial real estate-oriented magazines and five regionally driven magazines focused on wealth management.  For more information, visit www.studenthousingbusiness.com.

Press Contact:
Amy Barger, Marketing Director
The Preiss Company
(919) 291-9224
amy.barger@tpco.com