Greystar and Merrimack College have opened two new student residence halls, Shawsheen and Essex, at the intersection of Route 114 and Andover Street in North Andover, MA. The two-building development marks the largest single expansion of Merrimack College’s on-campus housing inventory since 2015, adding new capacity for students ahead of the current academic year.
At an opening event, Ryan Souls, managing director of development at Greystar, highlighted the firm’s experience in the campus housing sector and underscored the role of student accommodations in educational outcomes. Souls noted that Greystar has worked on college campuses across the country for more than three decades and emphasized that high-quality living environments are a critical component of student success. He also pointed to encouraging early feedback from residents who have already moved into the new halls.
The project was delivered through a public-private partnership structure involving Merrimack College, Greystar, and Collegiate Housing Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) entity focused on student housing. Under this arrangement, an affiliate of Collegiate Housing Foundation will hold ownership of the new Shawsheen and Essex assets through a long-term land lease with Merrimack College. The college retains the underlying land and is positioned to take ownership of the buildings after the lease term concludes, aligning long-term control of the facilities with the institution.
This approach allows Merrimack College to expand its residential footprint while collaborating with a private-sector development partner and a nonprofit owner specialized in student housing finance and structure. The partnership model is designed to align the interests of the college, the development team, and the nonprofit owner over the life of the lease, while providing students with newly built housing options close to the core campus area.
The opening of Shawsheen and Essex continues Merrimack College’s strategy of enhancing its residential offerings, with the latest project reflecting an incremental but notable step-up in on-campus housing capacity relative to prior expansions over the past decade.
