This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A PRIME Southbank development opportunity, pulled from the market over two years ago due to planning uncertainty, is up for grabs again with approval for a New York style hotel.
Vendors Julie Moss, owner of Melbourne’s Photography Studies College, and Webjet director Steven Scheuer have put the property located at 63-69 City Rd Southbank back on the market.
Back in 2015, the site was under a due diligence contract with a Chinese investor however due to a change in the Melbourne Planning Scheme, it was perceived that amendment C270 would restrict use of the property, as a result it caused the sale to fall through.
The vendors have since gain approval for a 30 storey, 100m tall, four star hotel with 270 pod style rooms. The development would also include a ground floor cafe and hotel rooftop bar and proposes that 8 of the 30 levels remain as education space, with Ms. Moss’ Photography College keen to occupy as a tenant.
Allard Shelton’s Michael Ryan, James Gregson, Joseph Walton and Martin Huang are handling the campaign.
It is expected to fetch around $15 million. The site occupies 910 sqm of land and will be sold via expressions of interest in early December.
The landholding is one of the last development sites available on City road, Southbank and is positioned within a precinct that includes the renowned Eureka Tower, Prima Pearl and Australia 108 site.
“This permit has not only added further value to a rare, prized landholding but it has also caused a flurry of buyer enquiry from hungry developers all eager to make their mark on the hotel boom,” Ryan said.
“The hotel sector appears to be outperforming many of the other property sectors in the Australian property market at the moment. Not only are we rapidly growing as a population, Melbourne is also a major business hub and a safe, tourist destination,” he added.
According to Deloittes 2017 Tourism and Hotel Market Report, International visitor numbers to Australia climbed 8.9% over the past year to 8.5 million, with an additional 700,000 visitors arriving on our shores.
“As it stands today, Australia is a safe-haven and Melbourne, the most liveable city in the world. This, together with our steady economic climate makes offerings of this calibre very attractive to astute investors from around the globe,” Gregson said. “We have already had strong interest from a few select groups of developers in China and Malaysia and we will be personally meeting with them in the coming weeks, together with all potential stakeholders of this campaign, regardless of location.”
Australian Property Journal
