Sentinel Fund Manager Australia (“Sentinel”), the Australian arm of leading American development and real estate investment firm Sentinel Real Estate Corporation, has acquired a 6,528 square metre site for development in North Melbourne, Victoria.
Located at 23-47 Villiers Street in the heart of the Melbourne Biomedical Precinct, Sentinel plans to deliver and manage approximately 350 high-quality and sustainable rental apartments across two buildings on the site, as part of its venture with Dutch pension fund manager PGGM.
This will be Sentinel’s sixth Build to Rent apartment community in Australia and its second in Melbourne, following the delivery of its 172-apartment project, The Briscoe, in West Melbourne, which is scheduled to open later this year. The acquisition of 23-47 Villiers Street grows Sentinel’s total pipeline in Australia to more than 1,600 rental units under various stages of development or operation.
The new apartment community will target carbon neutral certification and a 5-Star Green Star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia, in keeping with other developments Sentinel has completed to date in Australia. On completion, it will be operated by Sentinel’s Australian property management platform, Kinleaf.
Keith Lucas, Sentinel’s Managing Director in Australia said: “This is a meaningful opportunity to deliver a significant boost in housing choice for the area that will support the rapidly growing health and education precinct and more broadly, Melbourne’s housing needs.
“We’re looking forward to leveraging our experienced and established Build to Rent platform to transform this well-located inner-city site into a vibrant and sustainable community with high-quality rental apartments, a wide range of resident amenities, and a professionally managed rental experience,” said Mr Lucas.
23-47 Villiers Street is strategically located in a world-class health, research, technology, education and innovation precinct, which has received A$2.8 billion of investment over the past 10 years and is currently home to around 49,000 employees, according to Victorian Government research. The site is in immediate proximity to Australia’s largest hospital precinct including The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The Royal Women’s Hospital and The Royal Children’s Hospital; as well as the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, The University of Melbourne, North Melbourne Primary School and Royal Park.
Jikke de Wit, Senior Director Private Real Estate at PGGM said: “We primarily invest on behalf of those who work in the health sector, so we are very pleased that our investment in this project will support the creation of quality and low carbon housing that is well-positioned to benefit other healthcare professionals, whilst generating healthy, long-term returns for our clients.”
The site has excellent connectivity to the Melbourne CBD and surrounding suburbs with tram and bus services located less than a five-minute walk away, and the new Parkville Train Station located within 400 metres. The Parkville Train Station will provide convenient access to the CBD, North Melbourne’s Arden Precinct, suburban Melbourne and the proposed Melbourne Airport Rail Link. It is currently under construction with completion expected in 2025.
JLL agents Josh Rutman, Jesse Radisich and MingXuan Li brokered the transaction of 23-47 Villiers Street, North Melbourne.
