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The Iwan Sunito-backed development vehicle One Global Residences and Resorts has acquired a site in a high-growth area of Sydney for its latest major residential development.
The site at Macquarie Park would be transformed into a three-tower residential development with a gross realisation of $450 million under the plans. The overall project cost is predicted to be around $81 million.
Macquarie Park was the perfect location for the latest One Global venture, chairman and chief executive Iwan Sunito said.
“Macquarie Park is strategically one of the best locations in Sydney,” he told The Urban Developer.
“It has 2 million square metres of offices around it, let alone Chatswood and the rest of Sydney. What’s really missing in that precinct are three things. Firstly, high quality design.
“Secondly, there are no houses or townhouses in this part of the precinct, they are to the left of Epping Road but not on the right where our land is.
“The third one is there is a lack of decent hotels or serviced apartments in this area.
“So it is perfect for the new platform I have created, combining the expertise I have built up over the years designing apartments and Skye Suites, and when the two things are combined together it presents a very nice offering to people.”
The 6974sq m parcel at 7-11 Lachlan Ave and 157-159 Herring Road spans six adjoining blocks, and was acquired in a deal brokered by Savills.
Once approved, the One Global development will consist of a mix of 270 apartments, a 100-room hotel and premium retail space.
Added services include a shared concierge and community facilities that will see residential purchasers access services usually only accessible in hotels, such as 24-hour food and beverage services.
As well as being home to Macquarie University, major developments, including Stockland’s $500 million technology precinct, will exponentially increase employment opportunities in the area and thus demand for residential.
“[There will be a] lot of professionals,” Sunito said, “and I wouldn’t be surprised when the students come back, and they’re coming back in a big way in the new year, that they will be customers too.
“I would think that it will be 50 to maybe 70 per cent owner occupied, so the other 30 per cent will be investors.”
This high-end serviced apartment model has achieved proof of concept across the globe, Sunito said.
“This is a trend happening in a lot of offices—people are time poor. And they really want to be looked after.
“You see a lot in residential in Asia, which probably started that trend, but also in the US there are a lot of high-end, build-to-rent offerings combined with services.
“In the past what we have is an urban resort offering in our development, but what I’ve found that’s missing is often residents aren’t using the space because they’re not being looked after really well.
"As part of this offering…they can tap into some of the services that would be too expensive to be run as part of the residences.”
The Macquarie Park area has long been earmarked for further development. Last year, the NSW government committed $20 million towards rezoning 12 strategic, major precincts in Sydney, including Macquarie Park, and planned 7600 new homes for the area.
Concerns were raised following the launch of those plans about whether the current infrastructure can support such growth, but Sunito said that he was confident that the investment was being made to ensure Macquarie Park was well-connected.
“There is a lot of work that the government is doing, which is fantastic, connecting the north to the city, and in the north-west section tapping into Chatswood,” he said.
“This will be the next wave of growth in this sector of Macquarie Park, so from that point of view, I’m just excited at the fact that the government is actually spending a lot more money.
“We saw that massive growth when we were developing Waterloo—it triggers growth, and what we’re going to see is the next phase of that growth at Macquarie Park.
“The shopping centre is already one of the largest in the country with some of the highest traffic, but the offering of the residential is unique and tapping into this growth corridor.”
One Global is a separate venture from Iwan Sunito’s other property development company, Crown Group, of which he is also chairman and group chief executive.
Sunito launched the One Global project earlier this year to cater for changing Australian lifestyle demands, and its first property will be the $500-million Mastery project planned for Waterloo in Sydney’s inner south.
Acquisitive One Global called Macquarie Park “one of Sydney’s fastest-growing precincts” and said that its first acquisition would certainly not be its only one in the coming year.
