Melbourne To House World's Tallest Student Tower, GSA Unveils Australian Branding

Scape Student Living is planning the world's tallest student accommodation tower on Franklin Street, a $300 million 60-storey tower in the Melbourne CBD overlooking RMIT University, according to The Australian Financial Review. 

If approved, the report said the tower will comprise 740 student beds, along with 146 city living units, according to submitted plans.

The proposal also includes retail space and 11,500 square metres of commercial space.

The project - bought last year by Scape for $56 million - sits on 2000 sqm at 97 Franklin Street. Scape is due to open another complex at 393 Swanston St in February 2018 with over 750 student accommodation units.
Meanwhile, global student accommodation provider GSA has unveiled it will be branded as The Student Housing Company when it pushes into Melbourne for its first move into Australia.

GSA Group, announced its re-entry into the Australian market and opening of its Sydney based offices, with a target of securing 25,000 beds under management by 2025.
The GSA team first entered the Australian market in 2007, leading the purpose built student accommodation market and setting industry standards and benchmarks. GSA is re-entering the sector and will leverage its 25-year track record and global platform to deliver a market leading student accommodation experience for international and local students studying in Australia’s top university cities.

GSA previously founded the Australian student accommodation brand Urbanest which has investments across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, before exiting the Urbanest business.

Simon Loveridge, Managing Director, GSA Group Asia Pacific commented: “We are delighted to announce the continued growth of our Asia Pacific business with the launch of our new Australian business. The UK student accommodation market saw record transaction levels last year with over US$7bn of assets transacted in the sector. We see that Australia has all of the market fundamentals to develop into a more institutional grade asset class given the world leading universities, real estate market and the large and growing international student population.

"We will bring GSA’s global platform, systems and operations into the market and deliver a business of scale across Australia.”