Using a remote kids camp for student rentals

[Zach Denny]

I chair a board of a non-profit summer kids camp in PEI, Canada. We are in desperate need of an upgrade to our cabins, but lack the funds for large capital improvement projects. My hope is to be able to use what I've learned in real estate to leverage a new housing facility. One option I've come up with is building a new ≈$2M dorm style cabin facility, that can be used by the camp in the summers and rented to students during the school year (<1% vacancy rate in PEI, so housing is a struggle). I've run the numbers on this and it should do better than breaking even, which is a big win. If we can have a big new housing facility within minimal money out of pocket, that pays itself off, we can put that money into other things. The downside is that it's about 15 miles from the nearest college and universities. I don't think we have the local market for medium term rentals, so students seems to be the best option for Sept-May tenancy, but we may have to provide some transportation.

The question I'm asking, is if anyone else has any similar experiences of using a very niche, remote property to house students or other (I'm open) throughout the year while operating another type of business during the summer. If so, how did it go and what challenges did you face. If not, I'm open to other ideas or critiques.

Thanks BP!