Empowering Non-Profit to Rethink Mission and Assets
nternational House Philadelphia - Real Estate Strategy for Faded 221,000 sf Student Housing Building

Provided Board Clear Analysis and Options

The AR Spruce team helped IHP revisit its century-old mission:  providing housing for foreign students facing discrimination. The good news: students now had many nondiscriminatory housing options. The bad news: declining occupancy and deepening financial challenges. Looking at options for matching real estate strategies and mission, we clearly defined the challenges and opportunities:

  • IHP’s outdated building was not competitive with the current crop of student housing offerings.
  • The building’s inflexible, fortress-like design made needed repairs and modifications prohibitively expensive.
  • The property’s location next to two major universities made it extremely valuable.

IHP’s new mission—to play a different kind of international hub role—was not real estate-centric, meaning the property’s value could be unlocked and deployed directly to support the new mission.

Managed Complex Disposition to Achieve Net Proceeds above Expectations
With our continued guidance, IHP set out to dispose of the property and continue its mission elsewhere. Our role included assistance in hiring a broker with national reach, responding to changing market forces (including a worldwide pandemic), and managing negotiations with the successful bidder.

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