CBD Office Developments Move Ahead
Developer Golden Age has received approval from the City of Melbourne for a 27-level office building on the site of the Uniting Church’s former Victoria and Tasmania headquarters in the CBD.
The 130 Little Collins Street project will be built on a 651 sqm site, on the corner of Coromandel Place, with a combined 53m frontage. The 8-level office building currently on the site was home to the Uniting Church since its construction in 1967. The Uniting Church has moved to the 130 Lonsdale Street building within Charter Hall’s Wesley Place development.
Golden Age bought the last year for more than $40 million. At the time it had approval for a 184-room, 27-level hotel.
New data from the Property Council of Australia showed office vacancy in the Melbourne CBD grew from a historically low 3.2% to 5.8% over the first half of 2020, after experiencing its largest supply of new office stock in nearly 30 years.
Sub-lease vacancy increased by around 10,000sqm but remains below the historical average. According to the PCA, Melbourne will add more than one third of Australia’s new office space for the remainder of 2020, with 82% of this already pre-committed.
Melbourne CBD office projects that have recently received approval at state level include Charter Hall’s $1.5 billion office project at 555 Collins Street, a 35,000sqm office tower by Dexus at 52-60 Collins Street, and Beulah International’s mixed-use “Green Spine” at 118 City Road, which will include 27,000sqm of office space.
Mirvac and Milieu Reveal Brunswick Build-To-Rent Plans
Diversified developer Mirvac, in partnership with local group Milieu Property, has moved to pre-planning for its Albert Fields project in Brunswick, which will bring more than 500 build-to-rent homes on a 1ha site.
Under the build-to-rent model, developers build apartments and rather than divest them, lease them out to tenants, typically on longer terms than those in the private rental market.
Mirvac acquired the 395-403 Albert Street site, opposite Gilpin Park, at the end of 2019 for $40 million while entering into an agreement with Milieu Property, which had recently bought 395 Albert Street.
The project has an estimated cost of $172 million and is due to start construction in mid-2022, subject to planning approval. Plans will be lodged with Moreland City Council later in the year.
Major property group Stockland bought the neighbouring 4,010sqm timber yard at 429-435 Albert Street site for $15 million a few months ago with plans to build 10 townhouses and 140 apartments.
Mirvac is developing a build-to-rent project with PDG on the Munro site opposite the Queen Victoria Market, where it will take ownership of and lease out 490 built-to-rent units within the dual-tower development, and over summer it bought the former Melbourne Convention Centre site at 7-23 Spencer Street for $200 million for another build-to-rent tower with 472 apartments, alongside a new office tower.
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