Chicago, IL, & Vancouver, BC, September 12, 2025 – Harrison Street Asset Management (“HSAM”), a leading global investment management firm with approximately US$100 billion in assets under management, today announced its second investment at Simon Fraser University (“SFU”), British Columbia’s second largest university by enrolment.
The investment, known as Symposia, is a planned 458-bed, fully furnished student housing community. SFU has approximately 30,000 students enrolled, and upon completion, Symposia will bring much-needed purpose-built accommodations to Burnaby Mountain, where there has been no purpose-built off-campus student housing delivered to date. The project is expected to be completed in 2028, in time for the start of the 2028–2029 academic year.
With this investment, HSAM will become the sole institutional owner of purpose-built student housing near SFU, creating one of the largest and highest-quality student housing portfolios adjacent to any university in British Columbia. The firm’s first project in the market, Koto (formerly Comma UniverCity), is a 283-bed community scheduled for delivery in 2026. Once both Koto and Symposia are completed, HSAM’s portfolio in SFU’s UniverCity will grow to nearly 750 beds and include the only two purpose-built student accommodations on Burnaby Mountain.
Symposia has been designed to include a range of 1-bed, 2-bed and 3-bed units and a thoughtful amenity package tailored to the desires of students at SFU. Located at the corner of University High St. and University Crescent, the property is on the doorstep of SFU’s campus and adjacent to the planned future Skytrain gondola access point.
The development will be delivered in partnership with Mosaic, one of British Columbia’s leading residential developers with more than 25 years of experience. Mosaic’s strong track record of design and execution makes them an ideal partner for bringing this student housing project to market.
“SFU is one of Canada’s top academic institutions, yet students face limited residential rental supply in proximity to campus,” said Jonathan Turnbull, Managing Director and Head of Canada at HSAM. “By developing two high-quality projects at SFU, HSAM is proud to fill a critical gap while expanding our presence with the largest and most comprehensive student housing portfolio serving the university.”
Mosaic is proud to partner with HSAM on Symposia, a purpose-built rental mixed-use building at Simon Fraser University. Over the past 18 years, Mosaic has worked on projects with SFU and the SFU Community Trust to help realize the vision for SFU’s UniverCity. Symposia represents Mosaic’s 5th residential project at SFU’s UniverCity. Mosaic is particularly proud to be developing Symposia, the final and flagship building to complete the vision for UniverCity – a vision that was established in the year 2000 by the SFU Community Trust and has since become a model for a sustainable, complete neighbourhood experience in a university setting.
Jim Szabo, Vice Chair of CBRE Capital Markets, advised HSAM and Mosaic on the transaction.
HSAM is a leader in the purpose-built student housing market and one of the largest private owners of student housing globally. The transaction expands the firm’s Canadian student housing portfolio that currently includes more than 2,800 beds, of which approximately 1,400 are currently under development. To date, HSAM’s Canada Alternative Real Estate Fund, which targets investments in high-quality senior living, student housing, medical office, life sciences, storage and digital assets throughout Canada, has committed to over CAD$1.7 billion of transactions since launching in 2021.
About Harrison Street Asset Management
Harrison Street Asset Management is a leading global alternative investment management firm with over $100 billion in assets under management through highly differentiated assets across infrastructure, real estate and credit strategies. Headquartered in Chicago and London with approximately 520 employees in offices across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the firm offers innovative solutions across a variety of closed-end, open-end and specialized vehicles on behalf of 900 institutional and over 300 Registered Investment Advisors.1
Harrison Street Real Estate Capital, LLC has been recognized as one of the Best Places to Work by Pensions & Investments for ten years (2014-2020, 2022-2024) and has received 16 PERE awards since 2019, including the 2024 Alternatives Investor of the Year – Global award. For more information, visit www.harrisonst.com.
1 HSAM data is generally comprised of the aggregated data of investment advisors that, subject to regulatory approvals, will be owned in whole or in part by HSAM. Assets under management (“AUM”) reflects the AUM for the investment advisory and asset management clients of such investment advisors and is inclusive of the regulatory AUM of such investment advisors that is reported in their respective Form ADVs.
About Mosaic
Mosaic is a vertically integrated real estate development company with a focus in the Greater Vancouver area. Mosaic’s in-house team manages every stage of the new development process—from land acquisition, design, and approvals to financing, construction, marketing, and sales—delivering new multi-family high-rise, low-rise, and townhome communities across the region.
Mosaic also develops and operates income-producing properties, including purpose-built rental communities, commercial retail, and office space. Over the past 25 years, and with more than 8,000 homes constructed, Mosaic has remained committed to designing and building A Better Home.
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