This is Mapletree’s first acquisition of a serviced apartment asset following its partnership with Oakwood Worldwide

SINGAPORE  –– Mapletree Investments Pte Ltd (“Mapletree” or the “Group”) has acquired The Cascades Apartments, a 184-unit freehold apartment complex located in Sunnyvale, the heart of Silicon Valley. The property will be fully owned by Mapletree and rebranded as Oakwood Silicon Valley.

Oakwood Silicon Valley is currently an un-serviced residential rental property. Following the acquisition, the Group will embark on an asset enhancement initiative to retrofit and upgrade the property into a modern serviced apartment asset.

This is Mapletree’s first acquisition of a serviced apartment asset following its collaboration with Oakwood Worldwide (“Oakwood”), which was made in late April this year. In line with the partnership, Oakwood helped to source and facilitate the Group in making this maiden US acquisition.

The partnership inked with Oakwood saw Mapletree take a 49% stake in Oakwood Asia Pacific Pte Ltd (“OAP”), the operator-manager of serviced apartments under the Oakwood brand in the Asia Pacific region and outside of North America. Separately, Mapletree will make investments to acquire, develop and own serviced apartment assets in Asia, Europe and North America, which will be managed under the Oakwood brand.

Oakwood Silicon Valley sits on a 214,000 square feet (“sq ft”) plot of land, and has a gross building area of about 210,000 sq ft spread over six apartment blocks. Facilities within the complex include a swimming pool, children’s playground and clubhouse. The property has easy access to major transportation corridors and public transit stations, and is located within the highly regarded Cupertino Union School District with 20 elementary schools and five middle schools. Other amenities such as retail shops and markets are also within easy reach.

Sunnyvale is located within the core of Silicon Valley, the global epicentre of innovation in technology. Being home to some of the world’s leading companies, Silicon Valley has one of the strongest employment bases in the US. Notable firms in the vicinity include Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Yahoo, Inc., Juniper Networks, Northrop Grumman, Applied Materials, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom. The new Apple headquarters facility in Cupertino is just over one kilometre south of Oakwood Silicon Valley, while the neighbouring city of Mountain View is host to Google and LinkedIn.

Said Mr Chua Tiow Chye, Mapletree’s Group Chief Investment Officer: “This maiden acquisition of Oakwood Silicon Valley marks a good start to our partnership with Oakwood. Mapletree will continue to seek new investment opportunities in this asset class in Asia, the US and Europe. While this is our first serviced apartment venture in the US, the liquidity and transparency of the market will provide opportunities for us to participate in its recovering economy and scale up our business.

“Meanwhile, Mapletree’s partnership with Oakwood to further entrench the brand as a leading global serviced apartment name is also gaining momentum, as we gear up to sign new management contracts.”