Real estate investor Pro-invest is seeking to raise A$500m (€309m) for a new urban living platform focused on the Australian market.
The new platform intends to build a 5,000-room portfolio by drawing on Pro-invest’s hotel expertise to convert existing properties into flex-living facilities through an adaptive reuse strategy. The platform will also develop new purpose-built accommodation.
This week Pro-invest partnered with Japanese investor MEC Global Partners Asia to acquire the Coogee Sands Hotel & Apartment in Coogee, a beachside suburb in Sydney’s East. The hotel will be converted into a flex living property at a total cost of A$100m, including acquisition cost.
Luke Tarrant, MEC Global Partners Asia, head of Australia, said his company targeted locations like Coogee based on strong fundamentals, and with the right operating partner, the strategy could deliver long term value.
“Partnering with Pro-invest Group on this project highlights the growing maturity of Australia’s urban accommodation market and its ability to support scalable, hospitality led platforms.”
The acquisition marked the launch of the new, hospitality-led urban accommodation platform, said Pro-invest.
Ronald Stephen Barrott, founder and chairman, Pro-invest, said: “This acquisition marks an important step for Pro-invest. It reflects our belief that hospitality can play a meaningful role in shaping how people stay, connect and experience place.”
Pro-invest Group is a vertically integrated private equity real estate and asset manager operating across Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, with roughly $3bn in assets under management and a portfolio of more than 30 hotels.
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