Provident takes pride in being chosen as the Owner/Borrower for a first of its kind P3 project in the State of Tennessee, and having the opportunity to work with the University of Tennessee, RISE Development, Brailsford & Dunlavey, RBC Capital Markets, and numerous other professionals to bring UT's growing student population new, state-of-the-art student housing on their core campus in Knoxville.
On January 25th, 2024, Provident reached financial close on $220 million of tax-exempt and taxable revenue bonds for the first phase of essential student housing projects on the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
UT Knoxville, faced with growing enrollment, aging on-campus facilities, and a rapidly growing wait list from new and continuing students, implemented a Housing Inventory Management Plan that includes the Project (Phase 1) and a forthcoming Phase 2 that calls for an additional 1,028 beds across 295 units.
The Phase I Campus Core Project consists of 1,954 beds across 552 units of primarily semi-suite style housing for freshman and sophomore students on two sites at UT Knoxville, all scheduled to be delivered for the Fall 2025 Semester.
Financing. The Housing Projects were financed through the issuance of $220 million fixed rate tax-exempt and taxable Student Housing Revenue Bonds by The Health, Educational and Housing Facility Board of the County of Knox, amortizing over 40 years. Security is provided by revenues of the Projects, combined with bond insurance provided by Build America Mutual. The strength of the combined security enhancements provides for initial S&P ratings of “BBB-” and “AA” for the underlying and insured credits, respectively. Provident was represented by Fishman Haygood, Baton Rouge, LA. Bass, Berry, Sims, Knoxville, TN served as Bond Counsel and Kutak Rock, Denver, CO served as Special Tax Counsel
Development & Management. RISE served as Developer, Choate Construction Company as General Contractor, and Niles Bolton Associates as Architect. UT is responsible for managing the Projects.
