Wellington, 30 May 2015 – Wellington based private investment company Caniwi Capital owned by Troy Bowker has expanded its portfolio by acquiring a newly refurbished student accommodation building located at 175 The Terrace for $33.3m. Bill Leckie and Matthew St Amand from CBRE Wellington worked with Caniwi Capital on the buyer side to broker the transaction. The acquisition by Caniwi Capital takes its assets to $250m in commercial real estate around New Zealand and its Wellington located holdings to $125m.
Until last year ANZ had full occupancy of 175 The Terrace when the vendor, Cheops Holdings Ltd, converted the 15 floor office building into quality student accommodation. The refurbishment was completed by Maurice Clark’s construction company McKee Fehl Construction, representing their third conversion of an office building to student accommodation.
Bill Leckie, CBRE Wellington’s Senior Director, Capital Markets said; “This is the second purchase by Caniwi Capital from Cheops Holdings Ltd, after they acquired Boulcott Hall, 47 Boulcott Street for $14.3 million in 2013.”
Caniwi Capital Ltd’s Troy Bowker said; “This purchase fits into our investment model nicely. We concentrate on acquiring properties leased on a long term basis to high quality tenants with built in rental growth. Our weighted average lease term across our $250m portfolio is 18.5 years (the average for listed property trusts is 6.5years). All our leases contain a minimum of annual CPI increases. I am very proud of the quality of our portfolio and strength of our tenants. In this case the building is extremely well located and has a 100% NBS rating plus the full refurbishment gave us considerable confidence in investing in 175 The Terrace.”
Victoria University has agreed terms for a 15-year lease on the student accommodation, known as Katharine Jermyn Hall. This is a fully-catered Hall of Residence with 390 furnished single rooms. All 15 floors offer a large communal lounge, kitchenette and study room. There is also an extensive TV and games lounge, music practice room, fully equipped gym and two cinema lounges.
Matthew St Amand, Managing Director of CBRE Wellington said; “The property is extremely well located between Victoria University and the CBD on a corner site of The Terrace, Boulcott Street and Gilmer Terrace. Based in the heart of Wellington, it is an easy 10 minute walk to Victoria University’s two campuses (Kelburn and Pipitea) and within a 15 minute walk of Te Aro campus.”
Apart from the two student accommodation buildings in Wellington, Caniwi’s Wellington based assets also includes the ANZ campus located at 49-61 Tory Street leased to ANZ Bank, The Warehouse and The Warehouse Stationary in the fast growing bulk retail hub in Petone and the Ministry of Social Development national call centre in High Street Lower Hutt.
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