Student accommodation provider buys site for maiden Adelaide project
Renewal SA has sold the former Royal Adelaide Hospital Chest Clinic site and an adjoining parcel at 274-275 North Terrace to Journal Student Living for a major accommodation development.
The 2747 square metre amalgamated site fetched $26.29 million following a public marketing campaign.
Opposite the newly merged Adelaide University campus – with frontage also to Frome Street and Paxton Walk – a circa $400m complex is planned.
Construction is expected to commence this year.
It will be the operator’s first Adelaide asset.
Sydney based Journal Student Living is backed by Brookfield Asset Management and Citiplan.
Apartments, amenities, hospitality planned
The Journal sites are surrounded by taller buildings, some rising to approximately 40 levels.
In addition to hundreds of student apartments, the development is set to include ground-floor hospitality offerings, including tenancies with open-air dining, and a public space fronting Frome Street.
A cinema, library, gymnasium, entertainment areas, study zones, shared kitchens and communal dining areas also form part of the design by COX Architecture.
“The Adelaide University merger alongside our government’s CBD housing policies has made the city a place where major international developers want to invest,” Housing Minister Nick Champion said.
“Renewal SA had prepared the site specifically to attract a project of this scale,” he added (continues below).
“The development would make North Terrace and the East End more vibrant while also delivering hundreds of student rooms that would ease pressure on the private rental market”.
Sale concluded
Renewal SA offered the amalgamated sites to market in 2024, with preparation works completed last year.
The campaign also targeted traditional apartment and hotel developers, as well as build-to-rent investors.
“Australia has comparatively limited high-quality purpose-built student accommodation in its capital cities,” Brookfield Co-Head of Real Estate, Australia, Ruban Kaneshamoorthy said.
“The project would deliver a world-class offering for students, focused on engagement, wellbeing and easing rental pressure in the broader market,” he added.
The asset will be Journal Student Living’s fourth in Australia, with existing complexes in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Globally, Brookfield manages more than 50,000 student accommodation beds.
JLL’s Ben Parkinson and Jack O’Leary brokered the Adelaide sale.
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