Iwan Sunito Launches New Property Company

Architect and developer Iwan Sunito is launching a new company to provide luxury hotel-style amenity to apartment residents in mixed-use hotel and residential projects.

The Crown Group chairman and chief executive said what people wanted had changed massively over time. 

“Australian lifestyle choices are changing,” Sunito told The Urban Developer.

“The four or five-bedroom trophy home with a huge back yard and a pool isn’t everyone’s dream home anymore.

“Things are more transient, people change jobs all the time and they want to live somewhere where they can access services and amenities.”

The new company, One Global Residences and Resorts, will run hotel and residential projects where residents will be able to access a concierge plus other services and amenities that were usually reserved for high-end hotels.

Sunito explained that it also made it more cost effective.

“The offering combines both the building management side of things with the hospitality and services side of things,” he said.

“It makes it cheaper for the body corporate as well.

“We used to provide many of the amenities within the residential projects and what we found was that it isn’t even 10 per cent of the residents who use them.” 

The first property to become part of the One Global Residences and Resorts brand will be the $500-million Mastery project planned for Waterloo in Sydney's inner south.

▲ One of the buildings at the Mastery project in Waterloo designed by Koichi Takada and developed by Crown Group.

It will undergo a rebranding and be renamed One Mastery. 

One Global will then file plans in September for a development at Macquarie Park with a total estimated cost of $350 million.

The Kengo Kuma, Koichi Takada and Sydney-based Silvester Fuller- designed Mastery is attracting interest from local buyers keen on a village-style lifestyle, the company said.

One Global has estimated that the Macquarie Park project will attract around 30 to 40 per cent professionals, 30 to 40 per cent young families and 20 per cent students.

The group's next project is earmarked for Chatswood with a $750 million total cost. 

Sunito estimated that the development control plan for that site would go through early next year with a launch to market in 2024. 

The Chatswood project is aimed at an older market, especially downsizers looking for larger than usual apartments.

Sunito estimated that about 50 to 60 per cent of the market One Global and Crown Group has engaged with over these projects is locally based with 30 to 40 per cent being international buyers. 

One Global also has its eye on a property in downtown Los Angeles for a 20-storey development that will come under the brand as well as a project on Victoria Avenue in Brisbane’s West End. There is also the Artis project in Melbourne’s Southbank which has 150 units.

He said One Global would also engage in the build-to-rent space with apartments at Mastery, V, Arc, Infinity, Waterfall, and The Grand Eastlakes projects set aside for this market.

▲ Crown Group's The Grand Residences at Eastlakes in NSW, soon to be part of the One Global Residences and Resorts brand.

For Sunito, the plan to allow residents to access high-level hotel amenities and services also creates a sense of community. 

“I’m a champion of the middle-priced market,” Sunito said.

“As much as I am offering an amazing architectural building here and there, I am mindful that my price point is the $1 million to $1.5 million.

“I just enjoy that middle market a lot more than flying with a brand like Shangri-La, Mandarin and the like as oftentimes it caters for only a small group of society.

“I get a sense of satisfaction when I see people living with joy, having a facility that can only be compared to a five or six-star hotel but yet they are accessing it within the price range that I am offering.”