Scape has been moving beyond its student housing roots with projects like Scape Living Aurora in Melbourne
Rental housing developer Scape Australia has bolstered its executive team with the hiring of Tjarko Edzes, who most recently served as the Asia Pacific investment director at Scape’s longtime partner Bouwinvest.
Edzes assumes his new role this month as chief capital officer of the Sydney-based firm, which focuses on housing pitched to students and young professionals. He will take responsibility for capital sourcing and investor relations globally and executing real estate acquisition opportunities across Australia and Asia, Scape said Wednesday in a release.
After four years with Bouwinvest, Edzes moved to Sydney in 2018 to set up the APAC office of the Amsterdam-based real estate fund manager, which looks after €14.1 billion ($15.7 billion) worth of real estate assets worldwide.
“Tjarko’s proven global expertise in sourcing, managing capital partnerships and pursuing innovative investment strategies positions him well to play a key leadership role as we continue to build on Scape’s strong track record of success in Australia,” said Stephen Gaitanos, co-founder and group CEO of Scape Australia.
Lasting Partnership
Edzes oversaw a $2.2 billion APAC portfolio from Bouwinvest’s Sydney outpost — the firm’s first office outside the Netherlands — focusing on logistics and residential sub-segments throughout the region.
Tjarko Edzes moves across the board table at Scape
“Tjarko has extensive investment experience in all the main and various alternative property sectors, while being a lead investor in the upcoming residential-for-rent sector throughout the Asia Pacific region, with investments in multi-family in Tokyo and Shanghai, and student and disability housing in Australia,” Gaitanos said.
Bouwinvest was one of the early investors in Scape, joining with fellow Dutch fund manager APG in 2016 to commit A$150 million (now $109 million) to the developer’s first joint venture in Australia.
“Tjarko has been part of the Scape journey from the first days of external capital partnering with the Scape principals,” said Craig Carracher, co-founder and chairman of Scape Australia.
Before joining Bouwinvest in 2014, Edzes spent six and a half years at CBRE Global Investors, first as transaction manager for retail and later as head of transactions for continental Europe.
His earlier career includes three years as an asset and transaction manager at European developer Unibail-Rodamco. He holds a Master of Law from Utrecht University and a Master of Science in business administration from Nyenrode Business University.
Mutual Admiration
The veteran Edzes signalled his readiness to move from the limited partner role to the general partner side of the deal table.
“I have worked closely with Craig Carracher, Stephen Gaitanos and the Scape team since 2015 and have always had a strong admiration for them and their business,” Edzes said. “I have been particularly impressed with the way the team has responded during the very challenging last couple of years.”
Founded in 2013, Scape Australia is the largest owner-operator of purpose-built student housing in the country with over 16,000 bedrooms across 33 buildings in Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, plus 10,000 bedrooms in the development pipeline nationally.
The affiliate of UK-based Scape has invested more than A$5.5 billion in the Australian education and rental housing market over the last five years, operating under the Scape, Atira and Urbanest brands.
Leave a Reply