APG and Hines launch platform for 4,000-home PRS portfolio
Dutch pension fund APG and real estate investor Hines are preparing to launch a new business that will operate their 4,000-home PRS portfolio in Dublin.
Property manager Hali will launch formally in the coming weeks and will oversee the running of the portfolio, including leasing and property management. The company is 95% owned by APG and 5% by Hines.
Hali will be led by director Benjamin Preece, who joined Hines as director of operations in mid-2019. Other initial team members include Sarah Costelloe, associate director of leasing and another former Hines director, and Paul Tallon, who was senior facilities manager at Dublin’s Jervis Shopping Centre and is now Hali’s associate director of technical operations.
Dutch pension fund APG and real estate investor Hines are preparing to launch a new business that will operate their 4,000-home PRS portfolio in Dublin.
Property manager Hali will launch formally in the coming weeks and will oversee the running of the portfolio, including leasing and property management. The company is 95% owned by APG and 5% by Hines.
Hali will be led by director Benjamin Preece, who joined Hines as director of operations in mid-2019. Other initial team members include Sarah Costelloe, associate director of leasing and another former Hines director, and Paul Tallon, who was senior facilities manager at Dublin’s Jervis Shopping Centre and is now Hali’s associate director of technical operations.
Preece told EG: “Hali communities are not just quality amenity-rich living environments, but places where our residents will truly feel at home.” There will be a significant technology offering, he added, including for building and apartment access and booking amenities and events. “Our focus on service quality and community integration will allow Hali communities to flourish and become really desirable places to live, work and play,” he said.
APG and Hines struck a joint venture deal to develop a €450m (£389m) BTR scheme in Cherrywood, south Dublin, back in 2018. That scheme will deliver some 1,300 apartments, with the first residents expected to move in next year. APG and Hines also own the Player Wills and Bailey Gibson sites in Dublin 8 and the Drumcondra site in Dublin 3.
Leo Hertog, senior portfolio manager for real estate at APG Asset Management, told EG: “APG as a long-term investor supports the Hali platform and is excited to have a dedicated high-quality management team to provide outstanding services on the ground and create a recognisable brand with over 4,000 new apartments across Dublin.”
The move by Hines and APG to establish an owned operational business to oversee the assets, rather than relying on third parties, follows similar initiatives by other developers and investors in a highly fragmented market.
Just this week, Hines announced that it will buy UK property management firm Helix, which has provided property management services across most of the properties in Hines’s UK portfolio. The 60-strong, London-based Helix manages a UK-wide commercial real estate portfolio valued at more than £3.5bn.
Last year, developer EcoWorld London launched Apo, a BTR business targeting 5,000 homes under management in five years. The end-to-end service will help investors in sourcing investment opportunities, supporting design and development, through to leasing and long-term management of rental communities.
Months later, Quintain axed its Tipi brand in favour of a new platform, Quintain Living, bringing US BTR heavyweight Danielle Bayless on board to manage the 2,000-home portfolio.
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