ATLANTA, July 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Radnor Property Group, in partnership with Madrone Community Development Foundation, has reached financial close on a transformative $147 million student housing development in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta. Financing closed on July 1, 2026, with the completed sale of $146,763,475 in tax-exempt and taxable bonds issued by the Development Authority of Fulton County (DAFC). This milestone advances a major investment in high‑quality, affordable housing that will bring long‑term benefits and provide modern, community-oriented living to hundreds of Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC) students.
Located at 850 West End Ave – a key campus corridor on the edge of the campuses for Morehouse and Spelman Colleges – the community will deliver 793 beds across 305 apartment-style units. Amenities include a 24/7 staffed lobby, outdoor recreation space, a fitness room, community lounges, bike storage, dog run, and study rooms.
The program will be comprised of four-, two-, one-bedroom, and studio units featuring lounges on every floor and a central green space to foster social events and connection. With an emphasis on balancing a variety of student needs and lifestyles, the development will create a modern housing experience that supports wellbeing and strengthens the fabric of the surrounding neighborhood. In a historic first, this community will bring together two of the nation’s premier single-gender institutions into a thoughtfully designed, shared residential environment. By expanding opportunities for high-quality, affordable, and safe student housing in Atlanta, the project achieves key strategic objectives for both Colleges as they manage unprecedented growth in recent years.
Since 2020, Morehouse and Spelman have experienced significant enrollment growth. Increasing housing capacity is a strategic priority to reach a 75%–85% residency goal for on-campus and affiliated housing. As students increasingly face high-cost, distant off-campus properties that lack the proximity required for a cohesive campus experience, this 793-bed community will offer a convenient and affordable advantage with rents averaging 3% below the off-campus market, facilitating improved student safety, retention, and wellbeing.
“This project is an investment to enhance our students’ residential experience, which directly contributes to their academic success and persistence to graduation,” said Undria Stalling, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Business & Finance at Morehouse College. “Our steadily growing student enrollment fuels our collective need for affordable, near-campus housing. Radnor and Madrone brought their development expertise, and with Spelman, we partnered to create a solution that will give future generations of students a modern, accessible place to live, learn, and grow into the leaders our institutions are known to produce.”
“We are proud to work alongside Morehouse College and to collaborate with this award-winning student housing team to bring to life a vision of a modernized, future-ready community,” said Dawn Alston, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Business and Financial Affairs at Spelman College. “This partnership demonstrates our commitment to investing in campus facilities, student support, and residential life to accommodate growing enrollment, and it represents what is possible when mission-driven partners come together with a shared commitment to student success.”
DAFC will loan the proceeds of the bonds to Madrone-MS Student Housing LLC, a subsidiary of Madrone Community Development Foundation. West End Avenue P3, LLC, a joint venture entity between Morehouse and Spelman Colleges, has entered into a 50-year lease agreement with Madrone as part of the transaction. Construction will commence in July 2026 and be ready for occupancy by Fall 2028.
The development team includes Radnor Property Group as lead development partner, Clark Construction and CD Moody Construction in a joint venture as construction manager, Moody Nolan as architect, and Pape-Dawson as civil engineer.
“It is a privilege for Radnor to support Morehouse and Spelman Colleges in this historic, first-of-its-kind joint housing partnership,” said David Yeager, CEO and Managing Partner at Radnor Property Group. “This partnership sets a new benchmark for how premier institutions can combine resources to deliver exceptional, affordable residential environments. Achieving this milestone is a testament to their shared vision, allowing both colleges to advance their unique missions while remaining dynamic and resilient in an ever-changing higher education landscape.”
Nick Waugh, President of Madrone, said, “We’re honored to partner with Morehouse and Spelman on an investment that advances the long-term success of two extraordinary HBCUs. Through this housing partnership, we’re proud to help deliver a community that enables more students to live next to campus, focus on their education, and fully engage in campus life. This is exactly the kind of mission-driven investment that creates lasting value for students and institutions alike.”
Raymond James along with Loop Capital Markets served as underwriter for the bond financing. Brailsford & Dunlavey served as the Colleges’ project advisor, with Kutak Rock as bond counsel and Hilltop Securities as the colleges’ financial advisor.
About Radnor Property Group
Radnor Property Group is a leading national real estate company with a focus in projects structured as public-private partnerships. The company specializes in the development of real estate and infrastructure assets, including student housing, workforce housing, mixed-use commercial, and campus utilities. Since its founding in 1999, Radnor has undertaken development projects cumulatively valued at over $4 billion. Radnor is headquartered in Philadelphia, with regional offices in Charlotte, North Carolina and Portland, Maine. For more information, visit radnorproperty.com.
About Morehouse College
Morehouse College is a private, historically Black liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia, and the nation’s only historically Black college dedicated exclusively to the education of men. Founded in 1867, the College has a long-standing reputation for developing leaders committed to scholarship, service, and social justice. Located within the Atlanta University Center Consortium, Morehouse shares a collaborative academic environment with Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. The College’s mission is to develop men with disciplined minds who will lead lives of leadership and service. For more information, visit morehouse.edu.
About Spelman College
Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a leading liberal arts college widely recognized as the global leader in the education of women of African descent. Located in Atlanta, the College’s picturesque campus is home to 2,700 students. Spelman is the country’s leading producer of Black women who complete Ph.D.s in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The College’s status is confirmed by the U.S. News & World Report, which ranked Spelman No. 37 among all liberal arts colleges, No. 33 for undergraduate teaching, No. 2 for social mobility among liberal arts colleges, and No. 1 for the 19th year among historically Black colleges and universities. Recent initiatives include a designation by the Department of Defense as a Center of Excellence for Minority Women in STEM, a Gender and Sexuality Studies Institute, the first endowed queer studies chair at an HBCU and a program to increase the number of Black women Ph.D.s in economics. New majors and minors have been added, including documentary filmmaking and photography, data science, refugee studies and gaming. Collaborations have been also established with MIT’s Media Lab, the Broad Institute and the Army Research Lab for artificial intelligence and machine learning, among others.
Outstanding alumnae include Children’s Defense Fund founder Marian Wright Edelman, former Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Rosalind Brewer, political leader Stacey Abrams, Federal Reserve Governor Lisa D. Cook, former Acting Surgeon General and Spelman’s first alumna president Audrey Forbes Manley, Harvard University professor and former Dean Evelynn Hammonds, actress and producer Latanya Richardson Jackson, global bioinformatics geneticist Janina Jeff and authors Pearl Cleage and Tayari Jones.
To learn more, please visit spelman.edu and @spelmancollege on social media.
About Madrone Community Development Foundation
Madrone Community Development Foundation supports communities and institutions by providing essential facilities through public-private financing structures. Madrone is a public benefit corporation formed to lessen the burdens of government through providing educational, community, energy, hospitality, infrastructure and housing facilities. Headquartered in California, Madrone delivers facilities to sponsoring institutions across the USA. For more information, visit madronecdf.org.
Media Contact: ayeager@radnorproperty.com
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