This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
A FORMER bacon factory site in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs is set to make way for sustainable townhouses after being snapped up by developer Lucent.
The Northcote infill development site spans 6,131 sqm and has general residential zoning. An eight-figure sale price was expected.
Colliers agents Joe Kairouz, Hamish Burgess and Jozef Dickinson managed the off-market sale of 84-96 Bastings Street on behalf of long-term owners Waratah Properties, who held the site for nearly 50 years. They were involved in the meat substitution scandal that led to their involvement in the 1982 Royal Commission into the Australian Meat Industry under their former name Steiger & Boehm.
“Following significant work to remediate the site we were able to secure a strong result for our vendor, which was underpinned by the site’s location in a thriving inner-urban residential market,” Kairouz said.
“Prime development opportunities, such as Bastings Street, rarely become available so we were not surprised to see it quickly secured by a prominent local developer in the inner north.”
Northcote’s median house price has increased by nearly 50% from around $1,200,000 in 2019 to $1,750,000 in the second quarter of 2021, which Burgess said has been a strong catalyst for developer interest in Northcote and the surrounding suburbs.
As it goes about planning the development of Australia’s tallest tower on the edge of the Melbourne CBD, Beulah recently unveiled a collection at 15 three, four and five-bedroom carbon-neutral homes fronting Merri Creek in Northcote.
Also along the Merri, Sydney-based Metro Homes picked up the 1.25 hectare former Northcote Business Park at 198 Beavers Road last year for $23.25 million. It is using the site – once used as a bus depot – for 74 three-storey townhouses.
Colliers sold a 2.21 hectare site in nearby Bellfield last month to Glenvill Developments, which is partnering with Qualitas to deliver a new $220 million community on the former Bankia La Trobe Secondary College site.
