Syntrus Achmea RE&F to add 465 student apartments in Leiden to its portfolio

Syntrus Achmea Real Estate & Finance has engaged Ballast Nedam Development and VORM Ontwikkeling to create an additional 465 independent student apartments on the Yours Leiden campus. Construction on the apartments is to commence in December, with the last apartments due for delivery in September 2019. The apartments will be added to the portfolio of the Achmea Dutch Residential Fund (ADRF).

"The apartments meet the need for affordable and comfortable housing for students in the academic city of Leiden," says Onno Hoff, Director Fund Management Real Estate at Syntrus Achmea RE&F. "We are also eager to invest sustainably for our clients and our tenants. This project perfectly matches those objectives."

The new apartments, designed by the firm Mecanoo, based in Delft, are near the Lammenschans railway station. They have an average size of 28 square meters and have their own kitchen and bathroom. For heating and energy generation, a combination of a heat pump boiler, a heat recovery ventilation system and solar panels are employed. The traditional natural gas connection is not necessary. Ballast Nedam and VORM are responsible for developing the area and constructing the apartments.

Alderman Paul Laudy (Construction and Public Spaces): "Leiden is an academic city. This requires good student housing. This development is a great follow-up on the student housing which was built earlier in the Lammenschans Triangle in 2015. As a result, the new neighbourhood will become even livelier. A great way to live, within a stone's throw of our beautiful city centre."

Syntrus Achmea RE&F has had 583 student apartments and 117 starter homes located on the Yours Leiden campus in its portfolio since 2015. In May of this year, 76 apartments were delivered on the Wassenaarseweg in the Boerhaave neighbourhood. And in March, the official go-ahead was given for the construction of Lorentz in the city centre, with Syntrus Achmea RE&F purchasing 173 apartments, offices, commercial spaces and a parking garage with 198 parking spaces on behalf of its clients.