Veriu Group is expanding its Punthill apartment hotel network with its latest opening in Sunshine, a suburb 12km west of Melbourne’s CBD that is foreseen to be a transport ‘Super Hub’ in the coming years.
Punthill Sunshine is located adjacent to Sunshine Station which is undergoing a major redevelopment to the tune of $63.5 million which will see the station serve as a critical link connecting the CBD with Melbourne Airport and regional Victoria.
The 90-key property features a mix of modern studio, one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments, each with a fully equipped kitchen and desk.
Also on-site are conference and meeting facilities, communal workspaces, secure on-site parking, including electric vehicle charging facilities, a gym and bike hire on request.
The apartment hotel meets a demand for quality extended stay accommodation in an area that has historically been undersupplied and is on an upward growth trajectory with population projected to more than double over the next 30 years.
Veriu Group CEO, Zed Sanjana, told HM the opening aligns with the group’s strategy to have a presence in locations where its core customers – extended stay corporate travellers – need quality accommodation.
“We look to locate our properties adjacent to business parks, industrial parks, sources of major transport, infrastructure, hospitals and universities alike,” Sanjana said.
“Sunshine is slated to be one of the key satellite CBD locations of Melbourne over the next 30 years.
“There’s a plan to grow the employment base by 30,000 to grow the population almost double, by 2050 and over a billion dollars’ worth of infrastructure spend anticipated for the area which will create a lot of those jobs and employment drivers and places for people to live, not least of which is the train link between Sunshine and Melbourne Airport.”
Sanjana was joined by State Member for Laverton, Sarah Connolly, and property developer, SMA Projects Director, Martin Strode, for the official ribbon cutting ceremony.
“State government is talking about Sunshine Station in particular, as a Super Hub, or the next Southern Cross for Melbourne,” Laverton said.
“All rail networks, like all roads, lead to Rome, and that’s Sunshine. Sunshine is the key to unlocking the rail network in Melbourne’s west.
“It’s going to be an extraordinary time over the next decade, as we build that missing connection to Melbourne Airport.”
Market challenges
“It’s been probably one of the most challenging periods of time in Australian history to develop property,” Sanjana said citing the pandemic, planning hurdles, record high construction pricing, rising interest rates and inflation.
“We look at close to 400 sites a year, and we open somewhere between two to five hotels a year, and that’s a pretty narrow success rate when you look at it.
“Our experience is that the deals that get up aren’t necessarily the ones that, mathematically, always make sense. Of course, mathematics needs to work, but it’s really around the commitment and the passion of the people involved in those projects.
“Martin [Strode] and his team have consistently demonstrated that they are those types of people who make a commitment to something and see it through regardless of the challenges ahead of them, and we really appreciate that.”
Strode said he is eager to tap into further opportunities in west Melbourne.
“The west has got so much potential and, from a developer’s point of view, I’d love to be able to do more,” he said.
“We’ve really enjoyed working on this project with the Veriu Group – and it’s been fantastic to be able to bring our shared vision for the property to life.
“This hotel will definitely be a welcome addition to Sunshine and is already paving the way for other brands and businesses to follow suit.”
National expansion
The launch of the new Punthill Sunshine brings the total number of hotels in the Group’s rapidly expanding portfolio to 24 and follows the recent opening of the group’s first regional hotel, Punthill Maitland in New South Wales’ Hunter Valley, as well as its first ACT property, Punthill Tuggeranong.
Veriu Group is on a mission to grow the group to 80 hotels nationally and has a number of projects nearing completion including Veriu Macquarie Park in Sydney and its first South Australian property, Veriu Adelaide on King William Street, both set to open early next year.
“We’re now opening the 11th of what will be 12 new hotels this year, taking the group total to 25 hotels nationally, and we have another 12 or 13 in the pipeline to open over the next two to three years, including a couple here in Melbourne, in Epping and in Bandura and in Geelong, which will kick off construction early next year,” Sanjana said.
“It’s a really exciting times for our group, and it’s great to see this vision start to come to life.”