THE run-down Ambassador Hotel is in the sights of developer Jacques Khouri after the Nepean Highway has languished for almost four years. Plans are at last before Frankston council to build 39 apartments on the site that has fallen victim to vandals. > > Do you approve of plans for the Ambassador? Tell us below Mr Khouri’s company, Prime Advice, bought the property (on a separate title from the converted units behind) in October 2007 for $1.75 million. In 2009 he spoke of his plans to demolish the building and build apartments above offices and conference rooms. However, the building has been untouched. Mr Khouri said he had been dealing with personal issues but was focusing on the Ambassador, which he had also put on the market. “I’ve put it up for sale while I’m waiting on a council decision. If no one wants to buy it, we will proceed with apartment plans,” he said. “It’s a great site and well worth redevelopment.” The businessman, who has developed “hundreds” of properties in Melbourne over two decades, said he was continually fixing the abandoned hotel. One of Frankston’s other infamous Nepean Highway eyesores is also being addressed with news this week that development of the Peninsula Centre into a hotel – complete with pool, ballroom and penthouse – will restart later this year. No resolution has been reached between the three parties involved in the former Dimmey’s site. [...]
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The news that developers are paying record prices for scarce high-density residential development sites will come as no surprise to anyone who drives around Melbourne and sees the building activity. The demand comes as Victoria’s strong economy and Melbourne’s reputation as the second-most liveable city in the world (according to The Economist) continue to drive nation-leading population growth, says Savills Australia. And the demand is not limited to local buyers, with economic and political stability and comparatively affordable land prices adding to the attraction for off-shore developers, Savills divisional director Nick Peden says. “Melbourne has all the fundamentals in place for residential development,” he said. “The economy is sound, recent population and employment growth have both been nation-leading and historically low CBD office vacancy indicates a further vote of confidence from the business community. “All of these factors have contributed to a huge demand for new housing and a consequent shortage. “The problem is we don’t have enough development sites available and the upshot has been record prices being paid for residential development opportunities all over Melbourne.” Melbourne is set to grow enormously over the next 15 years. The Australian Bureau of Statistics forecasts Victoria’s population will grow by about 1.6 per cent a year until 2026, meaning an extra 1.5 million people will need accommodation, mostly in Melbourne. Savills has recently sold several high-profile residential development sites around Melbourne, setting land-value records for their specific locations. Previous highs of $2000 a sq m in Doncaster and $10,000 a sq m at Southbank have been well and truly passed. Mr Peden said comments by Head of Treasury Martin Parkinson this month that “Australia is about to enter a boom that should last decades” had not been lost on foreign developers who had been increasingly active in the market. “There is no doubt that Australia’s economic credentials – having sailed through the GFC relatively unscathed – are looked upon very favorably by the international community and, in this case, developers in the Asia-Pacific region, who are also attracted by land prices that compare well with their local prices,” he said. Mr Peden expects land values and demand for high-density development sites to continue to increase this year. DIFFERENT OUTLOOK The news in the established homes market, however, is quite different, with a new report revealing what just about everyone in Melbourne knows – the market has shifted back in favour of buyers. The inaugural Home Buyers Index from Commonwealth Bank and RP Data shows national property values fell by 2.1 per cent nationally during the first quarter of 2011 fuelled by weak results from January and February. Melbourne fared better than just about all other capital cities, with prices dropping 1.5 per cent. Commonwealth Bank’s Michael Cant said selling conditions in Melbourne had been moderating since June last year when homes were selling quickly and buyers had little room for negotiation. “Melbourne market conditions have now moved to a fairly neutral position where buyers and sellers are reasonably evenly balanced,” he said. [...] FOURTEEN units planned for Somerville have been scrapped after impassioned opposition from the community. Residents told Mornington Peninsula Council’s development assessments committee last week that they feared the proposal was the “thin edge of the wedge” and would forever alter their neighbourhood if approved. Objector Nigel Williams said the surrounding properties all featured houses on larger blocks and the units would create an “eyesore”. Mr Williams described the density of the development slated for a 4995 sq m site at 20 Austin Rd as grossly excessive. He said 90 units were planned for another location about 100m from the site and the shire should consider the two applications together. Fellow objector Anna Bodley said she feared the units would create more noise pollution and wreck her lifestyle. Ms Bodley said there were already significant traffic problems in Austin Rd associated with St Brendan’s Catholic Primary School. The school’s principal, Corrie Hearn, said the neighbourhood could not support the unit development. But Tim McBride-Burgess, for the applicant, said his client had made a “significant compromise” in agreeing with a recommendation from shire officers to drop two of the units – reducing the total planned from 14 to 12. Mr McBride-Burgess said the units would provide a mixture of single and double-storey dwellings. “There has been mention of units, but these are homes,” he said. The dwellings would provide a quality amenity for future residents, he said. Watson Ward’s Cr Lynn Bowden urged councillors to reject the plans. “This type of development is more appropriate for Melbourne, not Somerville,” she said. [...]  INTERNATIONAL service provider Community Housing Limited – a specialist in securing local accommodation for residents living in overseas slums and other informal housing – has expanded into flash new Box Hill offices. CHL has signed a major 1000 square metre lease at 26 – 28 Prospect Street (pictured, right), not far from another smaller building it occupied at 9-11 Prospect Street. Both buildings are near the side-entrance of the Centro Box Hill shopping centre, which also includes a train station. [...]  A PIECE of Geelong history has hit the market. The 47-room former Geelong Grammar School (pictured, right), built in 1857 and occupied by the college until 1914, is expected to sell to a developer, investor – or maybe even a millionaire resident. The tudor-gothic style former school at 55 Maud Street was sketched by architects Backhouse and Reynolds, who won a competition to design the campus. [...] A PIECE of Geelong history has hit the market. The 47-room former Geelong Grammar School (pictured, right), built in 1857 and occupied by the college until 1914, is expected to sell to a developer, investor – or maybe even a millionaire resident. The tudor-gothic style former school at 55 Maud Street was sketched by architects Backhouse and Reynolds, who won a competition to design the campus. [...]  TWO disused bowling alleys, north and south of the Yarra River, give an indication of how fast planning attitudes have reformed, as architects, developers and planners maximised the former government’s redundant Melbourne @ 5 Million planning strategy. In Mentone, some 21 kilometres south of the CBD, council has just rejected plans to replace the Mentone Bowl site with a 170-unit residential village topped by two towers of eight and 12 levels. [...]  SOON, Melbourne’s eyesore commission flat towers might not be the tallest buildings within their suburbs. Far from being daunted by new planning minister Matthew Guy shredding of the Brumby government’s problematic Melbourne 2030 planning policy (which he argued in Opposition treated metropolitan Melbourne like one giant development zone), residential developers are still proposing big, bold buildings. This is despite Melbourne planning being a relative state of limbo until a new planning strategy is formulated. This time, in Magpie land and near the Victoria Park stadium (pictured) and train station, a proposal has been lodged to build a 204-unit residential village with ground floor shops and a 17-level tower. [...]  THE federal government’s ailing National Rental Affordability Scheme has suffered a convenient setback. The $623 million initiative – introduced by Kevin Rudd in 2008, and then part-cut by Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan in recent budgets – has lost another private sector backer which was to have provided 255 affordable housing units in Coburg. Developer Hamton, with joint venture partner Macquarie Real Estate Investment Equity Fund, has quietly rescheduled the start date of its contentious Coburg High School redevelopment – Circa (artist impression, above). [...]  AN OWNER-occupier that controls a massive 4287 square metre property opposite the South Melbourne Market has publicly listed it for sale. The Novak Prestige Motor Works site at the north-west corner of York and Cecil streets, in South Melbourne (aerial, right), is an amalgamation of several adjoining properties. Panel beater and painter Novak purchased the first site in 1965, acquiring another seven over a 45-year period. Effectively a development site, and being offered with an extended settlement, the property is expected to arouse interest from builders, or land bankers which may onsell all or part of it at a more buoyant time of the market, possibly with permits. [...] |
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