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 Sydney-based developer EG Funds Management has lodged plans to replace a rundown Kensington wool store (pictured, right) with a major residential village. The 110-year old historic building, next door to flour processing plant Allied Mills, whose factory is prominent to commuters taking the Bolte Bridge, is expected to be retained in any redevelopment. EG is seeking to build at least one tower, rising up to 12 levels, on its site, according to The Age which reported the development application that has been rejected by council. [...]
 AFTER retaining it for five years, the Australian Unity Investments’ Healthcare Property Trust has sold an inner-city medical complex in a prime residential area to a syndicate of private investors. The Victoria House Medical Centre and Victoria Clinic complexes at 314 – 324 Malvern Road in Prahran (pictured, right) sold for $18.7 million, reflecting a yield of 8.3 per cent based on the asset’s annual rental income of $1.55 million. Australian Unity paid $17.53 million for the Residential 1 zoned asset in 2006, on a yield of 7.8 per cent. [...]
 IT’S been the host of many a celebration, but now the former Banksia Court Reception Centre (pictured, right) in ritzy Eaglemont, north-east of town, will be redeveloped as a residential village. The 109 – 111 Banksia Road site is opposite the picturesque Remembrance Park and Austin Hospital, which is classified as being in Heidelberg – a suburb that shares the same 3084 postcode as Eaglemont. The 4046 square metre site sold with plans for an 18-dwelling redevelopment. Six of the new units will be developed within the walls of a prominent heritage building, which was developed in 1912. [...]
 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. [...]
BAYSIDE developer Gillon Group has quietly acquired a supersite at one of the south-eastern suburb’s busiest corners. Gillon has negotiated with residential home owners, commercial property owners, VicRoads and the council to amalgamate some seven Brighton East lots into a 7500 square metre development site. At the north-west corner of Nepean Highway and South Road, the site incorporates Barr Street, and former public land. It plans to rebuild the site – opposite the Kingston City Hall and Moorabbin train station – into a $100 million-plus mixed-use village with around 200 apartments in what could be a seven level tower. Gillon has not disclosed the price it paid to buy and amalgamate the sites. Local agent sources however value the land at about $2000 per square metre, meaning Gillon’s block could fetch about $15 million if onsold. [...]
PLANS to redevelop Brighton’s historic Khyats Hotel into an apartment village are proceeding. The pub, at 21 – 25 Wilson Street, raised eyebrows in late 2009, after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal made the highly unusual decision not to raze the historic building, as part of a residential redevelopment. The Bayside council and former planning minister Justin Madden previously refused to put a heritage overlay over the hotel, which is opposite the Brighton Town Hall and Clocktower Theatre. [...]
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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