Marc Pallisco August 04, 2012
Mirvac's distinctive Array apartment tower that will rise in the Docklands.
OVERSEAS investors are again getting the first glimpse of a landmark skyscraper set to become a feature of Melbourne's skyline.
This time, on a Chinese real estate website, images and details have appeared of Mirvac's seventh Docklands apartment tower, Array.
The distinctive 39-level silver and glass tower is earmarked for a slice of land at the south-west corner of the $10 billion Docklands precinct, which kicked off construction in the 1990s, a legacy of the Kennett era.
With 205 dwellings, Array will rise west of the black Tower 5 building, which was marketed to clients in 2002 and completed in 2005. Tower 5 is one of Dockland's most prominent towers, being on the southernmost precinct of Docklands (Yarra's Edge) and near the Fishermans Bend precinct. Tower 5 rises 40 levels and includes 191 flats.
Array's design is similar to Tower 5 in that it includes a large sharply-angled structure with penthouse suites above. Three other Yarra's Edge skyscrapers - most of which also front Lorimer Street - feature a curved design.
The Yarra's Edge towers will rob city skyline and Yarra River views from sites in Port Melbourne that are also set to become apartment skyscrapers under the strategy to build up Fishermans Bend.
Array will be officially launched to Australian buyers in October. Targeting the high end, the cheapest units are $520,000. Mirvac declined to comment on the price of two penthouses.
In 2010, a Malaysian developer marketed all apartments within a new residential building at 206 A'Beckett Street to offshore buyers utilising controversial relaxed foreign ownership laws introduced by the Rudd-Gillard government in 2008.
BENDIGO's largest single capital works project opened on time and on budget late last month.
The $14.9 million Edward Street car park and office complex includes 1800 square metres of commercial space, most of which is leased as State Trustees' regional office.
Hidden behind a distinctive facade and occupying four levels of the five-level building is a 420-bay car park. The only secure car park in Bendigo, with 24/7 access for reserved customers, it uses new number plate recognition software to monitor vehicle access.
A SUPER-SIZED block in Fitzroy is expected to generate an $80 million-plus mixed use development after selling off-market to a developer.
On the north-east corner of Johnston and Gore streets, the 2122-square-metre site sold for more than $8 million.
Close to the corner of the Smith Street retail strip, the former warehouse at 239-247 Johnston Street has been occupied recently by retailers, including homewares and replica furniture store, The Dogs Breakfast Trading Company.
Redevelopment is expected to include retail space on the lower levels and high-rise, high-density apartments.
Selling agent Larry Takis, of Teska Carson, confirmed the sale but not buyer or price. He denied mid-tier developers were avoiding the local market, pointing to an $8 million sale he negotiated at 203 Burnley Street, Richmond, in April.
Despite the area's proximity to the north-eastern tip of the CBD and having dominant public housing towers of some 20 levels, developers in Fitzroy have been reluctant to pitch major apartment towers.
Elsewhere in Melbourne, 20-level apartment buildings are earmarked for Moonee Ponds, about eight kilometres north-east of the CBD. A 38-level tower is earmarked for South Yarra, four kilometres from town. In Footscray and Box Hill, permits are being sought for towers of more than 30 levels.
DEVELOPER Michael Piccolo is seeking a tenant to occupy a prime North Melbourne city site earmarked to eventually become an apartment village.
The former City Jeep dealership and service centre, acquired by the developer earlier this year, includes about 646 square metres of showroom space and occupies a 702-square-metre block. At 205-209 Peel Street, near the Vic Market, the showroom is asking about $135,000 a year. MP Burke Commercial's Pat Burke and Michael Pound will assign the current lease, which expires in January 2014. After this time, options to lease the building up until 2018 are available.
City Jeep recently moved to a flagship centre in the corner of Montague and Normanby streets in South Melbourne.
THE Dubai investors who paid about $4.8 million for landmark city restaurant Campari in 2009 are selling.
The renovated 800-square-metre, four-level retail space at 23-25 Hardware Lane opened as Campari in 1968, but closed for a period before opening again in August 2009.
The vendors bought the site from restaurateur Nick Zampelis, who paid $1.46 million for it in 2000. He operated from the premises for several years before leasing it to others. The current tenants, Australian Pacific Hospitality Management, are behind other local dining institutions, including Scusa Mi in Southbank.
APHM pays about $300,000 in rent annually. CBRE selling agents are Josh Rutman and Mark Wizel. Mr Rutman said the vendor saw an opportunity to bring the property to the market with interest rates at record lows.
Also, the recent auction nearby at 217 Elizabeth Street involved 261 bids from five bidders and an eventual sale price of $5,632,000 - a 3.9 per cent yield, he said.
ANOTHER piece of South Yarra's industrial past will be replaced. This time at 25 Wilson Street, off Chapel Street, developer Avenue Projects has unveiled an eight-level warehouse apartment complex with 38 dwellings and 36 car parks.
Planned for a vacant block in a former industrial area, the Mode complex will include in its design exposed brick and timber feature walls, exposed concrete ceilings and metal frames. Residents will share a rooftop deck with a dining and lounge area and outdoor BBQ. The oversized apartments - with 2.75 metre ceilings - start at $365,000, with car park bays an optional extra.
Avenue Projects is a collaboration between Buxton Group and developer Scalzo, responsible for the Albert Tower proposal at 38 Albert Road. Avenue Projects bought the Wilson Street site in May 2011. The development site was listed for sale with two adjoining factories a couple of years ago.
THE owner of a prominent former factory near Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong will take a redevelopment application to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal after the plan was rejected unanimously by the Maribyrnong City Council.
Plans for the 62 West Road site, at the south-east corner of Raleigh Road, near the Highpoint Shopping Centre, include an apartment village identified by five residential buildings, the tallest of which would rise 19 levels.
The council said a building this tall would overwhelm the streetscape but indicated a 15-level building may not.
Near the Village Green housing estate that was once an explosives factory - and across the road from a toxic 128-hectare former Defence Department site that Kevin Rudd promised in 2007 to develop also as housing - the West Road property was only a few years ago earmarked to become a public housing project with 271 flats.
The design changed to become a standard apartment project after the government confirmed that public housing would form a large part of the redevelopment of the Department of Defence site across the road. The West Road site last sold for $5.81 million in May 2010.
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