Work starts on Newcastle student development as businessman returns to city
A high-spec, 65-bed student housing development is to be built in an up-and-coming area of Newcastle after a Malaysian businessman who once studied in the city returned to find a “booming” property market.
Johnny Chen Yee Wong graduated from a quantity surveying course at what was then Newcastle Polytechnic in 1984, before returning to his home country to found one of Malaysia’s biggest property development firms, The W Group.
On visiting Newcastle again in 2013, he found it had grown significantly and recognised that, with two universities to cater for, student accommodation represented an obvious investment choice …