This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
MORE than $45 million is expected for a permit-approved build-to-rent development site just two kilometres from Melbourne’s CBD.
Dubbed Macaulay Walk, the corner site 218-246 Macaulay Road, North Melbourne has approval for two 12-storey towers and one six-storey building comprising a total of 394 apartments, ground floor retail, and a supermarket, with designs architects RotheLowman.
The permit contains a gross floor area of 42,105 sqm, including 23,717 sqm of residential net saleable area, 2,743sqm of retail net lettable area and 190 car parks.
The site offers spectacular views of Melbourne’s skyline and is adjacent to parkland, and within walking distance to three train stations, parks and the city’s health and education epicentre.
LAWD’s Lukas Byrns and Peter Sagar have the listing for Ceapal. The developer won approval earlier this year for the $105 million development before taking the plans back to the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning hoping to cut the affordable housing component in half, from 6% to 3%.
“Macaulay Walk represents the jewel in the crown of North Melbourne,” Byrns said.
“It is an exceptional, shovel-ready site, and we anticipate extremely strong interest from apartment developers and build-to-rent groups with global institutional capital who will value the recently received, and carefully curated, permit approval.”
He added that now that construction costs have stabilised, and the interest rate outlook is more positive, Macaulay Walk offers a development opportunity that eliminates planning risk.
“It is an opportune time to secure an outstanding permit approved project, which will deliver product in a market where the demand for rental properties continues to increase due to a severe undersupply of housing.”
“We are simply not building enough dwellings to house both the existing and growing population and quality sites like this are extremely rare.”
There is flexibility to provide build-to-sell, co-living, student accommodation and retirement accommodation at the site. Macaulay Walk has commercial 1 zoning and is close to the billion-dollar Arden transport precinct, as well as hospitals, major universities and schools.
“At this point in the cycle, sites in A-grade locations and which have been de-risked from a planning perspective are likely to be very attractive to investors and developers as they will be able to be activated the fastest as the market continues to recalibrate,” said Charter Keck Cramer’s Richard Temlett said.
The Melbourne apartment market has typically delivered around 13,400 apartments per annum over the last 10 years, however, Charter Keck Cramer’s projections suggest that annual completions over the next three years will average only 8,000 apartments, with an equal split between build-to-rent and build-to-sell units. Melbourne is the only capital city which, over the next three to four years, will be more reliant on build-to-rent apartment supply than build-to-sell to deliver new higher density dwellings.
Inner Melbourne has been the epicentre for Australia’s nascent build-to-rent sector. Amongst the more recent activity has been Model putting forward plans for a 200-apartment, 17-storey project in Abbotsford that would be Melbourne’s tallest mass timber residential building.
