Could Southbank’s apartment market be headed for another over-supply?

In the biggest development, Indian billionaire Rakeesh Wadhawan is planning to build five high-rise apartment buildings and a hotel between 400 and 430 City Road, on a site once known as the City Road Wedge.

A joint venture development company including Nonda Katsalidis and Benni Aroni have swooped in on an office block in Southbank Boul-evard, which it plans to develop into a "mini-Eureka building", sources say, while Queensland-based LAS Investments snapped up the former

Collins Mitsubishi site in Sturt Street, where it is also proposing an apartment tower.

Local private developer Mario Salvo is reported to have bought the City Road headquarters of Crazy John’s from John Ilhan’s widow, Patricia. Mr Salvo is also said to be planning apartments.

In 2000 the Southbank apart-ment market was widely considered to have "busted", with values buck-ing the metropolitan trend and heading backwards while the rest of Melbourne surged forward.

An oversupply of towers built in quick succession in the late 1990s was cited by analysts as the reason Southbank values dipped.

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Marc Pallisco

A former property analyst and print journalist, Marc is the publisher of realestatesource.com.au.