Global hospitality group Accor is moving beyond hotels and serviced apartments and into Australia’s purpose-built rental sector through a new management partnership with Sydney developer Freecity.
Under a white-label agreement, Accor will manage build-to-rent, co-living and purpose-built student accommodation across Freecity’s growing portfolio, bringing hotel-style operations into a residential pipeline that Freecity says extends to about 6000 homes across Sydney.
The agreement will see Accor handle leasing, marketing, building operations, resident services, community programming and amenity operations, while the properties continue to operate under Freecity’s consumer-facing brand.
It represents Accor’s first move into purpose-built rental housing and comes as Freecity advances projects spanning student accommodation, build-to-rent and co-living across several of Sydney’s major growth and transport hubs.
Accor already has a significant extended-stay accommodation business in the Pacific, with more than 125 properties, giving the group an existing operational base as it expands into longer-term residential accommodation.
Freecity, meanwhile, is attempting to apply volumetric modular construction, or VMC, to rental housing at a scale not previously seen in Australia.
The construction method involves manufacturing three-dimensional building modules away from the development site before transporting and assembling them on site, shifting a substantial portion of construction into a controlled manufacturing environment.
Freecity currently has three purpose-built student accommodation projects under construction in Sydney at Macquarie Park, Forest Lodge and Rockdale, with the projects comprising a combined 763 units.
Its Macquarie Park development at 169-171 Herring Road is the largest of the three, with 528 student accommodation units. Freecity has begun stacking modules at the project and says the 20-level development is set to become Australia’s tallest volumetric modular construction building.
But the company’s ambitions extend well beyond student housing.
At Rouse Hill, Freecity has secured approval for a roughly $400 million rental development at 2-30 Tempus Street that will deliver 548 homes across three towers of 23, 18 and 11 storeys.
The project will comprise 332 build-to-rent apartments and 216 co-living studios, with 105 of the BTR apartments designed as dual-key homes.
Located opposite Rouse Hill Metro station and adjacent to the town centre, the development is Freecity’s first build-to-rent and co-living project to secure approval