$9m Adelaide site to become $90m student accommodation

The group bought 124 Waymouth St in Adelaide for $9.275 million, on Wee Hur’s behalf, as the pair roll out developments around Australia.

The Singaporean company intends to develop the 1836sqm site into student accommodation, with 721 beds to be completed in late 2021.

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Intergen director Denis Kalofonos says the existing property is a freehold, three-storey office building, bounded by Waymouth St and Playhouse Lane, in the Adelaide core precinct of the CBD. It sports access to public transport and is near Rundle Mall and Chinatown, UNISA International Campus and TAFE SA.

He says the proposed merger of University of Adelaide and University of South Australia will benefit the student accommodation market in Adelaide by creating an international university of similar scale to the four largest Australian universities.

Intergen’s facilitation of the acquisition is the second for Wee Hur in Adelaide, the first being a 772-bed facility in Gray St, Adelaide, due for completion next year. It also comes on the back of Wee Hur’s recent acquisition of 13-23 Gibbons St, Redfern for $52 million in June to develop student accommodation for more than 500 beds.

Wee Hur owns two other student sites in Australia – ParkCentral in Buranda, Brisbane, which will have 1578 beds and a site in Melbourne’s A’Beckett St, where the company has submitted plans to develop 900 beds.

Wee Hur currently has about 4500 beds in the development pipeline under its specialist trust across Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane. Its current focus is Melbourne and Sydney where it is looking for opportunities.

Wee Hur appointed Intergen as its investment manager in February, with a mandate to invest $700 million in development sites for its student accommodation trust.

This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.