A lack of funding for speculative industrial development in Melbourne’s west is pushing estate owners and owner-occupiers to find solutions, Savills Australia says. Savills industrial executive Chris Telley said the supply of smaller industrial buildings in the west was “severely diminished” because continued tight bank lending had left many developers unable to fund speculative development. This had contributed to a new trend, in which “owner-occupiers are forced to buy land and have their premises built to order”, Mr Telley said. Despite lending tightness, individual businesses had been able to make the case to banks that owner-occupation was financially sound. The other effect of reduced speculative development was that industrial estate owners were considering developing new allotments. One such example was Investa Property Group, which planned to release new serviced allotments at its 194ha Paramount Industrial Estate at Derrimut. The decision followed the 18 similar lots Investa mainly pre-sold in mid-2010 with minimal marketing, Mr Telley said. He said he expected the two trends to continue. TENANTS SEEK CBD SPACE Tenant inquiries have risen at the smaller end of Melbourne’s CBD retail leasing market, reports CB Richard Ellis. CBRE negotiator Zelman Ainsworth said compared with last year there had been a marked rise in the number of inquiries for space priced at less than $150,000 a year. Hospitality businesses were showing the strongest demand, including start-up businesses and franchise models expanding from interstate and overseas. A recent example of the aggressive leasing was Port Melbourne fast-food retailer Cone Heads signing up for 2 Elizabeth St at more than $7000 a sq m a year – a record for the street. It had taken Cone Heads six years to secure the perfect site, Mr Ainsworth said. SHOP NEAR STATION A ground-floor shop or office opposite Southern Cross railway station is up for grabs through CB Richard Ellis via a deadline private-sale campaign. CBRE City Sales agents Josh Rutman and Tom Tuxworth are looking after the campaign for Shop 7 at 200 Spencer St, at the base of the Neo 200 apartment complex. It is expected to fetch more than $650,000. The property is 66sq m, has a car bay and the option to buy additional car spaces and storage areas, and is being sold with vacant possession. Mr Rutman said more than 3500 new apartments were expected to be built in the area over the next few years. The campaign closes on June 30 at 2pm. WAREHOUSE DEAL An owner-occupier has paid $1.4 million for an office-warehouse a walk from South Yarra’s Chapel St retail strip. CB Richard Ellis associate director Scott Orchard negotiated the deal over the 237sq m site at 20 Wilson St, which has a ground-floor warehouse space and a first-floor office or studio. Zoning is Business 2 and a 23m height limit applies to the precinct. [...]
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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. [...]  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. [...] A CONTENTIOUS Lower Templestowe development proposal is headed to the state planning tribunal. Urban Design Architects has applied to have the planning application for 13 two-storey dwellings at 280 Thompsons Rd heard at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. Manningham Council failed to made a decision on the $3.6 million proposal within the required 60 statutory days. “We think it’s a very reasonable development,” Urban Design spokesman Martyn Tribe said. “Obviously we haven’t seen the planning officer’s report yet, but we’re ready to defend the development.” Council acting chief executive Paul Molan said the council did not support the development and had been preparing a Notice of Refusal. “Now that an appeal has been lodged the report will be completed and the grounds of refusal will form our grounds of appeal,” Mr Molan said. He did not give a reason for the delayed response. Neighbouring resident Alan Pollock said he was disappointed in council’s failure to act. “It’s just going to be drawn out now isn’t it?” he said. “The plan is clearly too dense and would cause trouble for everyone so they should have got the denial sorted out.” A hearing date was yet to be set last week. [...] AS PLANNERS continue to approve major new housing estates in Melbourne’s (until-recently-forgotten) western suburbs, a powerful state motoring body has called on the new state government to build a new major road thoroughfare, for what will be an imminent surge in car traffic. The RACV forecasts 20,000 extra car trips will be travelled based on residential development at one new western suburb proposal alone, recently announced by Lend Lease (refer link below). [...]  MILLIONAIRE entrepreneur Llloyd Williams has quietly listed for sale a horse stable complex opposite the Melbourne Showgrounds, and near the western boundary of the Flemington Racecourse. In a residential street, the Ascot Vale property is configured as a double-storey home at the front, with equine facilities, at the rear. The commercial component includes 17 stables and an office. The property has rear lane access. Measuring 1049 square metres, the block is large by inner-city standards, and is being marketed as a residential development site. Apartments within any new project would capture unobstructed city views over the racecourse. Nelson Alexander Ascot Vale’s Andrew Johnston will auction 14 Leonard Crescent at midday, May 14, when it’s expected to sell for between $1.2 and $1.3 million. [...] MANNINGHAM City Council will bank almost $9 million from the sale of a 3113 square metre development site opposite Doncaster Shoppingtown (aerial shot, right). The 101 – 105 Tram Road site, on the south-east corner of Doncaster Road, has been purchased by an Australian based company whose principals have substantial development experience in Hong Kong and China. The new owner plans to build luxury apartments on the Doncaster site, capitalising on CBD views availed by its elevated position. Next door, at 95 – 99 Tram Road, affordable housing service provider Haven is building a 10-level, 98-unit complex. Haven paid $2.86 million for that site in 2009. [...] VICROADS – whose days headquartered from dank offices in one of Melbourne’s ritziest suburbs are reportedly numbered – is expecting some $15 million from the sale of a 31.3 hectare residential development site on what is now Melbourne’s northern outskirts, but will soon be considered a middle-ring suburb. The Craigieburn site with a street address of 650 Hume Highway, is spread over two sides of the recently opened Hume Freeway*, which connects commuters to the Western Ring Road and the CBD in one direction, or the Metropolitan Ring Road, and a Greensborough traffic jam at the other. The Melbourne-Sydney railway line dissects the southern edge of both VicRoads sites, some 25 kilometres from town. [...] AFTER canning plans to develop a ritzy hotel, local development family the Deague’s are selling a petrol station-turned residential development site in Prahran. The small site, at the south-west corner of High and Thomas streets, is opposite Swinburne University’s Prahran campus, and walking distance to retail mecca Chapel Street – which commands the highest retail rents of any inner-city shopping strip. The Deagues purchased the 118 High Street site about four years ago with plans to build a hotel, the Larwill, as part of its “art” series chain. However, like many projects by the Deague family’s Asian Pacific Building Corporation, it’s been canned. The site is expected to sell at a premium given it now has a permit – prompting speculation the wealthy family is property speculating. [...] AS PART of its push to ensure there is a 20 – 25 year supply of land available for residential development, the new state government’s development agency, VicUrban, has outmuscled developers for one of the western suburb’s most prominent future development sites. VicUrban is believed to be paying about $21 million for the outgoing Le Mans Toyota car dealership, overlooking the banks of the Maribyrnong River and at the suburb border of Footscray and West Melbourne. The 1.3 hectare site is opposite the Hopetoun Bridge, which connects Hopkins Street to Dynon Road, near Melbourne’s Market precinct. [...] |
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