US giant Sentinel eyes Adelaide for latest BTR project

US property giant Sentinel Real Estate Corporation has expanded its reach into the Australian market with plans for Adelaide’s first institution-led build-to-rent project on a site in the city’s inner north.

The company’s local subsidiary Sentinel Fund Manager Australia has earmarked the 250-apartment development for a vacant 4,000sqm site in Bowden.

The announcement comes on the heels of Sentinel stepping into the Gold Coast market earlier this year after acquiring a 1.4ha site at Robina on the Gold Coast for a similar 300-apartment project.

It also follows the completion of the group’s first Australian build-to-rent project, Element 27, in Perth’s Subiaco, and as construction nears completion this year on The Briscoe in West Melbourne.

The Adelaide site has been acquired from Renewal SA, the state government’s urban development agency, and is part of the 16ha Bowden precinct which is the South Australian Government’s first higher density urban infill revitalisation project where it aims to ultimately provide housing for 3,000 people.

Sentinel will manage the new build-to-rent project under the group’s Kinleaf property management arm which manages all of its Australian developments.

Michael Streicker, director of Sentinel Fund Manager Australia, says the Adelaide site acquisition is an important step to the group’s national growth strategy.

“Following our successful delivery and stabilisation of Australia’s first purpose-built build-to-rent communities in Western Australia, as well as the establishment of our first projects in Victoria and Queensland, we’re looking forward to working closely with Renewal SA to deliver this first-of-its-kind project for South Australia,” Streicker says.

“We’re proud to be the first group to bring institutional build-to-rent to Adelaide and play a role in providing greater housing choice to South Australians.

“Our build-to-rent communities are designed and operated with renters as the priority, offering them a more convenient and refined rental experience where environmental and social sustainability are integrated throughout.”

South Australian Housing and Urban Development Minister Nick Champion sees the project as a welcome boost to housing supply in Adelaide.

“The first-of-its-kind development, in the heart of the innovative Bowden precinct, provides a longer-term, more secure renting option and adds a new layer to our housing mix,” Champion says.

“The build-to-rent sector is emerging as another way to help address housing shortages and ease the rental squeeze, and it’s great to see such a major global property player back Bowden as the place to do just that.”

The proposed development will include a range of lifestyle amenities for residents as well as an integrated retail offering.

Sentinel, which has 50 years’ experience in property management in the US, has been exploring the Australian rental market and laying the foundations of its build-to-rent model for Australia since 2011.

The New York-based group’s portfolio currently comprises 27,500 apartments and more than 500,000sqm of commercial real estate in the US, Australia and Europe.