Atlanta-based developer Varcity has closed financing on its first university-based retirement community, a 239-unit project inside Purdue University’s Discovery Park District, and is building toward a national network of similar communities anchored on college campuses. The company announced the closing of Varcity at Purdue on July 23.
The 13.5-acre community, developed in partnership with Purdue University and the Purdue for Life Foundation, will include 239 rental residences spread across villas, townhomes, stacked flats and concierge units. Atlanta-based Carter, whose majority interest was acquired by Hunt Companies in 2025, is co-developing the project, with Western States Lodging handling professional management. Austin-based Reach Architects and the global design firm Gensler are handling design. The community is scheduled to open in summer 2028.
Varcity’s model centers on integrating retirees into campus life rather than isolating senior housing in a separate retirement enclave. Residents will have access to faculty lectures, student mentorship programs, continuing-education classes, cultural performances, volunteer opportunities and university athletics, alongside intergenerational programming designed to connect residents with students.
“College campuses already possess everything we’ve learned contributes to healthier, happier aging β curiosity, connection, culture, athletics, lifelong education, and a constant exchange of ideas,” Varcity founder Les Strech said in the announcement.
The company is simultaneously advancing a second community at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, spanning roughly 14 acres with villas, townhomes and concierge apartments plus amenities including a food truck, co-working space, a lecture hall, pickleball courts, a pastry shop and a 3D-printing space. Groundbreaking there, previously targeted for late 2025, is now anticipated in early 2027. Varcity has framed the two projects as the foundation of a broader national portfolio of university-anchored retirement communities rather than one-off developments.
University-affiliated retirement communities, sometimes called university-based retirement communities or UBRCs, have existed in smaller numbers for decades near schools including Notre Dame, Stanford and the University of Michigan, typically built and operated independently by regional developers rather than as part of a branded national platform. Varcity’s pitch to prospective residents and university partners alike is that a repeatable, multi-campus model can standardize the programming, staffing and financing playbook that has historically made these projects difficult to scale beyond a single campus at a time.
What it means
Varcity’s approach reflects a broader shift in senior housing development toward differentiated, amenity-rich concepts as operators compete for an aging but increasingly selective pool of affluent retirees. University-based retirement communities remain a small niche nationally, but the model taps into steady institutional demand drivers β university brand affinity, walkable campus infrastructure and built-in programming β that can reduce marketing costs relative to a stand-alone senior living project. The launch comes as capital continues flowing into senior housing broadly: Ventas recently raised its 2026 senior housing investment target by 50% to $4.5 billion, and senior housing M&A activity approached $4 billion in the second quarter, underscoring investor appetite for new formats within the sector even as Varcity’s slower-than-planned Texas A&M timeline shows execution risk remains real for novel development concepts.
