St Kilda’s Novotel set for $550m apartment development
The former head of failed investment group Babcock & Brown has made a high-profile property comeback, helping finance a $550 million luxury residential development deal in St Kilda.
Phil Green, a former head of Babcock & Brown which entered liquidation in 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis, introduced property developer Tim Gurner to the Novotel site fronting St Kilda’s The Esplanade, which hit the market earlier this year but failed to sell.
Gurner will redevelop the 6000sqm beachfront site into a $550 million luxury residential development, partnering with the beachfront site’s present owner, Greg Shand’s Barana Group.
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Green will act as finance partner for the project.
Gurner has started an international design competition and will appoint an architecture and interior design team to deliver the residential precinct, with resort-style amenity, to what is arguably Melbourne’s most significant beachfront site.
The site has a permit for 240 apartments and 360 carparks over eights levels but Gurner will instruct the winning architecture team to design 130 to 140 larger residential dwellings plus a wine bar and restaurant.
The 14-16 The Esplanade site attracted interest at the $110 million mark, making it one of Melbourne’s most valuable residential sites when it hit the market earlier this year. Gurner says he recently sold $140 million worth of penthouse-sized apartments at the Albert Place Residences development while Hawksburn Place Residences achieved more than $90 million in sales for only 20 residences at an average sale price of $4.5 million.
St Kilda’s Novotel Hotel.
At the St Kilda project prices will start from $1 million to $15 million, while the four penthouses will be priced up to $30 million.
“A site of this scale, in one of Melbourne’s most iconic suburbs, with uninterrupted views of the bay and the city skyline is irreplaceable; this truly is a once-in-a-lifetime site and opportunity for buyers and we can’t wait to bring it to life,” Gurner says in a statement.
Barana Group’s Greg Shand says his business model for more than 20 years has been to acquire properties which have potential due to their zoning, location and aspect.
Meanwhile, Green says he was first introduced to the Gurner group after a family member purchased at Hawksburn Place Residences late last year.
“Alceon is delighted to partner in the financing and development of this substantial and exciting project and we look forward to working closely with the Gurner team,” he says.
Existing Gurner VIP buyers will be given the chance to buy into the St Kilda project in October, with a public launch early next year.
Construction is expected to commence later next year.
The Novotel will continue operation until construction starts.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
