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Welcome to the P3 Resource Center

Helping Higher Education Navigate Public-Private Partnerships

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Our Mission

The P3 Resource Center brings together foundational guidance, market research, practical perspectives, and current developments to help institutional leaders better understand and evaluate public-private partnerships.

P3 101: The Basics

A Guide to Higher Education Public-Private Partnerships

A foundational introduction to the history, opportunities, deal structures, benefits, risks, common misconceptions, and attributes of successful higher-education P3 engagements.

Download the free guide
P3 101 Guide

State of the Industry

Explore the Latest P3 Market Intelligence

Two annual reports, one market picture. Our latest Higher Education P3 report tracks housing-anchored mixed-use deals, and our Energy P3 report tracks major campus energy infrastructure. Both are built on deal data from the developers and partners active in the market.

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2026 Higher Education P3 State of the Industry

B&D’s latest data-driven assessment of the P3 market, providing a comprehensive look at current trends and future projections in higher education infrastructure.

Higher Ed Resource Hub
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2026 Higher Education Energy P3 State of the Industry

A critical assessment of the decentralized energy landscape, exploring how public-private partnerships are transforming institutional utility systems.

Energy Resource Hub

Practical P3 Resources

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Innovation District P3s: The New “Town-Gown” Partnerships (Presentation)

This presentation, given by B&D’s Jeff Turner at the 2021 Higher Education P3 Summit, gives a brief history of innovation districts and covers what they look like today...

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Early, Practical Steps for Public Owners to Build Better Partnerships and Support Successful P3 Project Delivery

This three-part series offers practical steps for public owners to take to support better partnerships, and successful project delivery. A foundational best practice...

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Improving P3 procurement through a progressive model

This article discusses the “Progressive P3 model.” This model is already common in higher ed P3s, but is less common in other state, county, and municipal P3s...

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The four critical elements of capital renewal planning

One of the many advantages for colleges and universities, when considering the use of Public-Private Partnerships “P3s” for new on-campus residence hall facilities..

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Avoiding financial problems in P3s

Increasingly, universities in need of new facilities have turned to public-private partnerships (commonly known as “P3s”) as an alternative to traditional delivery...

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Managing Complication and Chaos in P3 Projects

Public-private partnerships (P3) are becoming a popular approach for public entities to finance social infrastructure projects and complete them within an...

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Financing Student Housing for Community Colleges

According to the American Association of Community Colleges, 28% of public community colleges in the U.S. offer on-campus student housing. In some states...

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Navigating Public-Private Partnerships

Public-private partnerships (“P3”) have become an effective option for institutions to pursue their strategic objectives while managing a project’s speed to market...

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Latest P3 News

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Aug 20, 2026

What is driving higher ed’s continued P3 growth?

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Mar 3, 2026

Winner approved for Atlanta colleges housing P3

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About the P3 Resource Center

The P3 Resource Center publishes reporting, reference material, and industry data on public-private partnerships in American higher education.​

The site covers housing-anchored and mixed-use P3 projects on campuses across the country, tracking deals from procurement through financial close. Its readers are university administrators, developers, lenders, advisors, architects, and nonprofit owners. Contributors include: legal experts at Ballard Spahrand Taft; capital markets teams at RBC and D.A. Davidson; developers at Lendlease and Edgemoor; designers at Stantec, Perkins and Will, and SCB; and operators at Aramark, Capstone, and COCM. University administrators also have accounts of their own projects.​

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The site publishes two annual State of the Industry reports. The higher education report, first issued in 2018 and now in its ninth edition, tracks housing-anchored higher education P3 projects that reached financial close in the previous calendar year. A companion energy report covers campus energy partnerships on the same annual cycle. Deal data in both is supplied by developers active in the market, and the reports reflect the transactions disclosed to Brailsford & Dunlavey during the reporting period.​

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Contact Us

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If you’re interested in becoming a P3 Resource Center contributor, or for general inquires, please complete the form below.

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