Cambridge RE Partners buys Central Queensland University campus for $111m
Cambridge RE Partners has bought the offices at 400 Kent Street, Sydney being used as Central Queensland University’s Sydney campus.
A unit of Singaporean fund manager Cambridge RE Partners has struck a deal to purchase a building in Sydney’s Kent Street occupied by Central Queensland University in a deal worth about $111.58m.
The group has forged into the local educational sector and bought the building from a group of Hong Kong investors managed by Terraform Capital.
They had picked up the block in 2018 for $111.8m. The sale shows that education assets have held their value even as those of other offices have dropped.
The building is the Sydney campus of Australia’s largest regional university, Central Queensland University, and Terraform saw the building through a tough period.
It handled the market rental determination in the wake of the pandemic and in fact had won significant rent increases since 2018. The block consists of 11 floors of education facilities including lecture rooms, student break and study areas and basement parking.
The 10,461sq m building has more than seven years remaining on the lease to the university, with fixed annual rental growth.
The property is near Town Hall Station and the new Gadigal Metro, and is a rare CBD campus for students.
Richard Butler, managing director, RB Property Advisors, and Steven Tsang, partner capital markets of Stanton Hillier Parker, managed the sale for Terraform Capital.
Mr Butler said “the transaction of CQU’s Sydney campus is further evidence of education-anchored assets continuing to be more sought after and targeted by Global Asset Managers backed by their experienced investors as evidenced by this deal to a specialist education fund”.
Cambridge JMD Investments Management, which struck the deal, is a member of the Cambridge RE Group, whose investment focus includes education-related real estate in Australia.
The block drew strong interest, including from Singaporean rival Keppel, as it is fully leased to the university and had the long lease expiry, which appealed to international groups.
Cambridge RE Partners last year bought what was its second major local asset, with its specialist social infrastructure fund acquiring Hastings Village student accommodation complex in Port Macquarie, NSW, in a $116m deal.
It had earlier forged into the local market with the purchase of Taylors House in Sydney, as education assets attracted investors. That building at 965 Bourke Street, Waterloo was sold by a Fortius fund, which is part of Growthpoint Properties, for $86.95m.
The fund manager has cited its strong focus on social infrastructure real estate assets in Australia, particularly in education.
It cited the strong growth arising not just from inbound migration, of which foreign students constituted a large component, but also from increasing demand for childcare and quality education from the domestic resident market.
