Aware Super and Altis swoop on St Leonards site
Aware Super and partner Altis have snapped up a major site in St Leonards on the Sydney’s North Shore for about $80m. Picture: Damian Shaw
Aware Super and partner Altis have snapped up a major site in St Leonards on the Sydney’s North Shore for about $80m and will build two new towers for essential workers.
The pair have been chasing sites around the country as they seek to grow a portfolio of affordable rental housing for key workers in accessible locations in large cities.
Their existing projects are spread across major cities and their push into St Leonards continues the surge in the new sector into Sydney.
Build-to-rent developers are now able to outbid apartment groups who face not only rising costs but also uncertainty about selling their projects in a tougher market.
The site was sold by Aqualand, which had put it together in stages in 2021, in two deals worth about $73.5m to create the site on an amalgamated block on Holdsworth Ave and Berry Rd. But after Aqualand bought the site from SJD it received approaches, with Altis, acting for Aware, successful at about $80m, via a put and call option deed for the original price plus an uplift payment.
Savills Australia’s Johnathon Broome and Stuart Cox brokered the off-market sale. The property is a 5016sq m site at 12-20 Berry Rd and 11-19 Holdsworth Ave, St Leonards. It is near the St Leonards Health, Research and Education Precinct, and transport, including the new Crows Nest metro station.
Michelle McNally, chief executive officer of Aware Real Estate.
Aware will undertake a development comprising 145 high quality residential apartments over two mid-level buildings, with a target completion of mid-2025. On completion, the apartments will be part of Aware’s Essential Worker Housing program, providing quality accommodation to qualifying essential workers at reduced rents.
The fund noted there was limited affordable residential accommodation in St Leonards, and strong demand from workers in nearby health and educations facilities.
The deal fits with Aware Real Estate’s focused investment theme targeting locations around existing and new infrastructure which will drive long-term demand underlying capital growth.
The sale came after Aqualand was approached by a number of parties interested in purchasing the site, the firm’s project director, Andrew Cooper, said.
“While Aqualand was not actively seeking a purchaser, we were approached by Altis and others interested in the site, and after assessing the commercial merits of a sale, we made the decision to divest the site in order to focus on our other projects,” Mr Cooper said.
The sale will allow a redirection of funds into Aqualand’s existing premium projects and will be used to fast-track the company’s development pipeline, which spans a dozen commercial, mixed-use and residential projects with an end value of $10.5bn.
Aware has flagged big ambitions to grow its property operations by tapping a new chief, Michelle McNally, to run its real estate unit as the fund heads towards $250bn.
The lofty mark is not so far away for the country’s third largest super fund and is expected to hit the target in 2025.
Aware already has a $1.5bn property portfolio of local industrial, office and residential assets. These include build-to-rent developments – focused on essential worker affordable housing – in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Canberra.
