Colleges take advantage of real estate slump to acquire housing

From The New York Times: Columbia University in New York City, which provides housing for more than half of its 13,000 graduate students, owns dozens of apartment buildings, many with prewar charm and within walking distance of the university’s campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood. The university snapped up the Arbor, a nine-story building in the Riverdale section of the Bronx in July 2008 for $67 million after the developer struggled to sell units as condominiums. Other colleges have taken advantage of the real estate slump to push expansion plans.