A prized St Kilda island site spanning 1,370sqm on busy St Kilda Road has hit the market, offering the largest development opportunity in the suburb for some time.
Fitzroys’ Mark Talbot and Shawn Luo, together with Danny Clark and Michael Gross of Gross Waddell ICR, are marketing 344-360 St Kilda Road on behalf of an owner who accumulated the site over multiple transactions.
The high-profile site is being offered with a permit for a premium six-storey mixed-use development, with a net saleable area of 4,743sqm and residences designed for the growing downsizer and owner occupier segments of the market.
It currently comprises a high-profile single-level showroom and office generating significant holding income from tenants Tradelink and SMR Advertising.
Luo said the site’s lucrative Commercial 1 zoning also offers the chance to redesign the permit with a wide variety of potential outcomes, including commercial, hotel or a project in the fast-growing build-to-rent market.
“This is an incredibly rare opportunity to acquire a city fringe development site of this size and positioning that would cater a range of segments of the residential market.
“The growing sentiment in the residential sector is seeing investors beginning to return to the market, joining the heightened demand from owner occupiers.”
Talbot said, “The increasing acceptance of flexible working arrangements has put Melbourne’s highly accessible inner suburbs with attractive lifestyle and hospitality amenity firmly in the spotlight for residents, businesses and workers.
“The site is ideally positioned close to an array of bustling hospitality and lifestyle precincts, including St Kilda beach, Fitzroy and Acland Streets, Albert Park, Carlisle Street, and Chapel Street.”
He said accessibility is high on the priority list for developers, owner occupiers, and businesses, and the site is on one of Melbourne’s main inner-city arterials serviced by multiple tram routes at its doorstep, walking and cycling trails and Balaclava train station.
He said astute developers and investors would also note the site’s commercial development prospects.
“There is a substantial number of businesses seeking a move to inner suburban locations to be closer to their home, making it easier to access the workplace and collaborate with colleagues in-person during a period of more flexible working hours and arrangements.”
Clark said St Kilda’s lifestyle attributes makes it uniquely attractive to a number of demographics, and its catchment comprises established, affluent and transient cohorts
Its high-demand market is home to some of Melbourne’s most expensive apartments, including Gurner’s Saint Moritz development.
Gross said Australia’s build-to-rent market has attracted growing attention from private developers and listed property companies, with the sector increasingly seen as a viable asset class in a heated residential market. ASX-listed developer Mirvac, local developers Gurner and Assemble, Canadas’s Oxford Properties and US giant Greystar are all undertaking build-to-rent projects across inner Melbourne.
The Expressions of Interest campaign for 344-360 St Kilda Road closes at 3pm on Thursday, 10 June.
Content Courtesy of Fitzroys
