Serene Capital acquires Perth's Adina Barrack Plaza

Boutique Sydney fund manager Serene Capital has added an 11th property to its flagship hotel fund after acquiring the Adina Apartment Hotel Barrack Plaza on 138 Barrack Street in Perth’s CBD.

The transaction was for an undisclosed sum, although The West Australian reports the hotel was sold for $23 million by property developer Joe Scaffidi whose company appointed KordaMentha partners as administrators in July last year.

Formerly the site of the Railway Hotel, in 1992 Scaffidi controversially demolished much of the building's façade as part of the development in contravention of a stopwork order, making him the first person to be prosecuted under the Heritage Act.

As reported by Perth Now ahead of the election of Joe's wife Lisa Scaffidi as the city's Lord Mayor from 2007 to 2018, he was ordered to rebuild the façade.

"In hindsight, things were not great, but he took the fall for it and said, ‘I’m going to turn that into something positive for the city’," Lisa Scaffidi told the publication.

"That man showed sheer tenacity and last year he finally had his big opening and it’s been 100 per cent full ever since. He righted the wrong," she was quoted as saying in 2007.

Her comments came just after the property had been redeveloped again in 2006. It now has 100 keys across a lettable area of 7,476 square metres, with other hotel facilities including parking, reception, conference rooms, a gymnasium and swimming pool.

The hotel adds to Serene Capital's $850 million worth of assets under management and is in partnership with TFE Hotels, which runs brands including Adina and manages hotels for two other sites in the Serene portfolio - Vibe Perth Subiaco and Adina Serviced Apartments Canberra Dickson.

Founded in 2014, Serene Capital also has Quest Penrith, Quest Newcastle West, The Constance Fortitude Valley (Brisbane) and Ibis Budget Perth Airport in its portfolio.

"As a group TFE owns, manages and operates hotels, so we think like owners and operate their hotels as though they were our own," says TFE Hotels group chief operating officer Chris Sedgwick.

"Great hotels, professional hotel teams, and centralised locations like Barrack Plaza are the key drivers to success alongside long-term partnerships with dynamic owners, like Serene Capital, who really allow us to do what we do best."

Serene Capital co-founder and CEO Glen Boultwood says more acquisitions are in the pipeline.

"Serene Capital will look to acquire additional hotels in the fund throughout 2024 with additional equity to be raised from family offices, HNW (high net worth) individuals and wholesale investors as part of the third close of the fund on 31 March 2024," he says.

"We will continue to grow with operators who are flexible, and who are happy to revisit operating structures over time as market dynamics change for both parties benefit, rather than remain rigid. TFE Hotels is such an operator."

TFE is currently working on a refurbishment plan with Serene Capital for Barrack Plaza as part of a rolling refurbishment for all first-generation Adina properties.