Today, Irish alternatives investment specialist Elkstone and investment management firm Harrison Street have announced the development of a new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) scheme at Queen Street in Galway City, Ireland.
Queen Street is the second PBSA scheme developed by the Elkstone and Harrison Street partnership. It follows the recently opened 142-bed Stoneybatter Place in Dublin – the first 3-star Fitwel ®Certified PBSA property in the Republic of Ireland.
The eight-storey 345-bed Queen Street scheme marks the first significant investment in the west of Ireland through the Elkstone and Harrison Street partnership. Amenities include common study areas, a gym, bicycle storage, cinema room, rooftop terrace, and 24/7 reception.
Located a five-minute walk away from Galway’s Ceannt train station and a 15-minute walk from the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), the Queen Street development also aims to significantly increase the economic contribution of the area.
“The development of Queen Street represents a notable expansion within the student housing sector to meet the growing demand in Ireland’s third largest student market.
“We are proud to continue our partnership with Elkstone and collaborate on bringing this premium student housing asset to an undersupplied region.”
Paul Bashir, CEO of Europe, Harrison Street
The west of Ireland is now home to several prominent universities and institutes, making it a hub for higher education. The thriving university culture has attracted a diverse student population and created a consistent need for modern, sustainable student accommodation.
Almost 13,000 undergraduates alone require housing in a city with just under 6,000 student beds, meaning 7,000 are left without access to dedicated student accommodation.
“At Elkstone, we want to help support Ireland’s infrastructure.
“For us, it is about connecting real capital to meaningful projects at scale.
“By opening access for local Irish investors to co-invest alongside global industry leaders like Harrison Street, we can provide modern and liveable spaces that both represent and further bolster communities.
“Queen Street is just one example of the thousands of sustainable and high quality, PBSA units we are developing right now across the island.”
Ciaran McIntyre, Co-Founder and Head of Real Estate, Elkstone
The main contractor at Stoneybatter Place, Monami Construction, has been appointed on the Queen Street scheme, with manager Mezzino assigned to operate the building. Development finance for both Queen Street and Stoneybatter Place is being provided by Activate Capital.
“Activate is delighted to be furthering our support of Elkstone and Harrison Street, this time for the delivery at scale of much-needed new student accommodation in Galway.”
Robert Gallagher, CEO, Activate Capital
Designed to meet the highest ESG standards, the Queen Street development is due for completion in 2026 and forms part of a wider partnership to deliver 1,500 purpose-built student beds across Limerick, Cork, Dublin and Galway by 2028.
Elkstone opened its Galway office in 2019 led by Managing Director & Head of Private Clients Joe Bergin and has previously delivered almost 100 student beds in the city. This new development represents a scaling of its operations in the west of Ireland, working together with Harrison Street to bring further supply to the Irish market.
“[Queen Street is] an A-rated and world-class city centre student accommodation that will cater for the burgeoning number of students attending both the University of Galway and the Atlantic Technological University, and that will also go a long way towards relieving the pressures on private rental accommodation in Galway City.”
Cllr Peter Keane, Mayor, the City of Galway
The development is also the latest investment in Ireland from Harrison Street’s European opportunistic strategy, which is supported by a €75m investment from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). The partnership with ISIF is a co-investment strategy focused primarily on delivering new student accommodation in Ireland’s regional cities.
“This is a good example of ISIF’s co-investment strategy at work, in which it can act as a catalyst to attract international co-investment capital to support the construction of new accommodation in one of Ireland’s leading cities.
“ISIF’s partnership with Harrison Street, announced in 2023, aims to increase the supply of available student accommodation in regional cities to meet the housing needs of students and support the growth of Ireland’s universities. We are delighted to support the continued collaboration between Harrison Street, Activate and Elkstone as together they deliver on new regional student accommodation.
“The delivery of this development is aligned with ISIF’s ambitious €500m programme to support regeneration in Irelands 5 regional cities, whilst also making a positive contribution to our objective of delivering over 25,000 new homes by 2030.
“We look forward to seeing the development on Queen Street, Galway progress as part of that work.”
Nick Ashmore, Director, ISIF
