Tampa-based Society Hill Capital and Punit Shah’s Liberty Group, a family office overseeing more than $1.5 billion in investments, are backing three student housing developments worth more than $300 million near the University of Florida, Florida State University and the University of Tennessee.
Liberty previously invested in Statehouse Gaines, 908 Group’s 693-bed community near FSU, which opened fully leased and sold in 2025. The family office is now returning alongside Society Hill for 1,681 more beds across three university markets.
“Repeat capital is the only endorsement that counts in this business,” Society Hill founder Justin Wilson said. “Liberty Group watched a project go from groundbreaking to a full building to a sale, and elected to reinvest with us for three more.”
The next investments include the 129-unit, 511-bed Chapter House at FSU, scheduled for 2027, the 219-unit, 684-bed Chapter House at UF in Gainesville and the 116-unit, 486-bed Nine at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. The Gainesville and Knoxville projects are scheduled for 2029. 908 Group and Batson-Cook Development Company are developing the properties.
Liberty is supplying co-GP equity, capital invested alongside the developer’s own money that takes losses before the larger pool of limited-partner equity and can give investors greater participation in a successful development. Tampa-based Society Hill invests through funds and as a co-GP, with its anchor strategy focused on purpose-built student housing around Power Four universities.
“The thesis hasn’t changed: flagship universities keep growing, and walkable beds next to campus are hard to entitle and hard to build,” Wilson said. “We would rather own three of those sites with a partner who thinks in decades than chase volume.”
Liberty CEO and Miami Marlins co-owner Punit Shah said the family office looks beyond individual deals when deciding where to deploy capital.
“Our investment approach is not to measure a deal in isolation, but rather to measure the relationship behind it,” Shah said. “The Society Hill Capital and 908 Group teams have earned our confidence, and my family is pleased to continue investing alongside them across the UF, FSU and UT projects.”
