From Duntroon to a National Group
Before any of it, there was the Army. Sid trained as an officer at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, and served for 15 years before moving into property. Building a single hotel is one kind of discipline. Building three separate companies that still operate as one coordinated group is another, and it’s the second one Sid has spent the last 35 years proving he can do.
One Vision, Three Companies
Central Apartment Group runs the hotels. Central Development Corporation builds the buildings. Prime Group Australasia backs the investments. All three trace back to the same person and the same starting point: 1989, and a belief that regional Australia deserved the same quality of accommodation and development as any capital city. Three decades on, the group operates more than 25 properties nationwide, still built on that same idea.
It’s a philosophy Sid still talks about the same way after twenty years building the wider group:
“Reaching 20 years is a proud moment for our entire team.”
The Next Chapter, Closer to Home
The newest project is taking shape at 33 Anstey Street, Albion, just minutes from Brisbane’s CBD. Thirteen boutique apartments across a 623 square metre site, designed for young professionals and investors, with 1 to 3 bedroom layouts, sustainable design elements, secure parking, and shared communal spaces. It’s a smaller footprint than some of the group’s regional hotels, but the same thinking: build well, build for the people who’ll actually live there, and build somewhere with real long-term demand.
Still Growing
From a single Defence housing venture in 1989 to three companies operating nationwide, Sid Knell’s approach has never really changed: start regionally, build for the long term, and let the results speak before the marketing does. Albion is simply the newest example of where that approach is heading next.