This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CBUS Property has doubled its Spring Street power with the acquisition of the Mercure Melbourne Treasury Gardens Hotel site for more than $70 million from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s subsidiary Pearl Hotels.
It will look to replace the four-star hotel at 13-21 Spring Street with a luxury residential tower, having just completed its sold-out $350 million residential building at 35 Spring Street.
The 164-room hotel will remain in operation until Cbus begins work on the 1,270 sqm site. It hopes to start works on what chief executive officer Adrian Pozzo said would be a “boutique luxury development with large apartments” in earnest late in 2019.
13-21 Spring Street is at Melbourne’s east end and positioned directly opposite the Treasury Gardens, next to Parliament House, Melbourne.
“The proposed development will complement Cbus Property’s current and past residential projects in the Melbourne CBD, including Collins Arch Melbourne, which is currently under construction, and 35 Spring Street which was completed in April this year,” Pozzo said.
Any future tower on the site would offer views towards the Melbourne Cricket Ground, close to Cbus and Brookfield’s $150 million, 11-storey high-end apartment project on Wellington Parade.
“Cbus Property acknowledge the value of the site and the importance of great design, its impact on the city and that discerning purchasers expect world class architecture,” Pozzo said of the newly acquired site.
“With this in mind we are in the process of commissioning a design competition and are targeting lodgement of the planning application early next year.”
The $1.25 billion, 47-storey Collins Arch development, in the core of the CBD at 447 Collins Street, will comprise a striking dual-tower commercial, residential and hotel structure with a skybridge that has earned it the nickname “Pantscraper”.
Gus Moors of Colliers International negotiated the 13-21 Spring Street sale on behalf of the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority subsidiary Pearl Hotels.
Developer Golden Age acquired the 85 Spring Street site last summer for $75 million. Previous owner Grocon had its initial plans for the site rebuffed by Planning Minister Richard Wynne, causing it to cut down its plans for a 44-level, 305 luxury apartment tower to 39 levels and 225 apartments, worth $300 million.
Australian Property Journal
