Veriu Launches Rebrand with SA Hotel, Co-Living Scheme

A national operator that this week combined its diverse operations under one name has broken ground on a combined hotel and co-living tower in the Adelaide CBD for its rebrand debut.

Scheduled to open in 2028, the 17-storey tower, by new entity Livestay, will comprise a 120-key hotel and 120 co-living homes.

LiveStay is the new overarching brand launched in Adelaide this week that brings together Veriu Hotels & Suites, Punthill Apartment Hotels and UKO.

Slated for a site at 124 Wakefield Street in the Adelaide CBD, the hotel and co-living tower will cater to overnight corporate travellers, extended-stay guests and long-term residents.

LiveStay chief executive Zed Sanjana said the project was a strong example of where the market was heading.

“By combining different living models within one asset, we can create more resilient, higher-performing developments that respond to multiple demand streams,” he said. 

The Veriu component will have a mix of studio, studio interconnecting and accessible units suited to families and group stays.

UKO—an operator of co-living and build-to-rent properties—will deliver community-focused living for longer-term residents.

The project will have two conference spaces, communal areas for residents, a gym, lobby, guest pantry and car spaces. 

Sanjana said Adelaide was selected based on strong underlying fundamentals, including sustained corporate travel demand, a growing visitor economy and major activity across events, education and health sectors. 

“Adelaide continues to see consistent demand across multiple segments, and there’s a clear opportunity for more flexible, apartment-style accommodation,” he said.

“This development allows us to meet that demand in a way that’s both operationally efficient and customer focused.” 

LiveStay launched with 90 sites operating or under construction in all jurisdictions apart from the Northern Territory. The group’s assets comprise 5950 keys and construction on a further six sites is due to begin this year and next.

Recent activity includes the opening of Punthill Narrabundah in Canberra and a pipeline of new projects including sites at Ryde, Epping, Shepparton, South Yarra and Albury. 

UKO completed six properties last year, and has a further eight developments under construction in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, and Randwick, Botany and Mascot in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.

▲ A rendering of the LiveStay’s serviced apartment development on King William Street in the Adelaide CBD.

“We’ve already built significant scale but we see a lot of opportunity ahead,” Sanjana said.

“LiveStay is about bringing everything we do together under one clear identity.”

The Wakefield Street project will be LiveStay’s second in Adelaide—its Veriu serviced apartment development on King William Street is due to complete in the first quarter of 2027.

Lines are blurring

LiveStay managing director Rhys Williams said the same design typeology would be used throughout the Adelaide project. 


“It makes for a very efficient design because the boundaries are blurring between short medium and stay in city living,” he told The Urban Developer.

“And so having products that can support a diverse length of stay and meet the needs of people coming into a city is really important.

“It could well be the case where someone checks in and they stay in the apartment hotel for two weeks but then their contract’s extended and they want to be there for six months, and they can move within the tower and meet their needs that way.”

Williams said the main target market for the project would be professionals aged from 20 to 35.

“They’re getting a product that’s fully furnished,” he said.

“It includes utilities and communal areas, there’s onsite management and community events.

“All of those things make it a much more positive renting experience than going and renting an apartment, putting all the furniture in yourself and connecting utilities and then being sometimes quite lonely in the living environment.”

He said the hotel rooms—located on the top 11 storeys with the co-living on the lower six levels—would all be self-contained, one-bedroom studios.

“Adelaide is a city on the move,” he said.

“We’re seeing it as the springboard to launch the entire LiveStay brand.

“It’s exciting for us to be able to ... launch a a substantial brand with a building like this.”