Golden Age Group spending more than $30 million on Rockbank, Melbourne, development site
Two months after snapping up a Sydney hotel site, it has been revealed Golden Age Group, led by Jeff Xu, is paying a speculated price of more than $30 million for a low-density residential building block in western Melbourne.
The off-market deal for the 21 hectare holding at 520-578 Greigs Road was negotiated by Colliers International.
It represents a change in direction for the 20-year old building company which has in recent years made headlines for apartment projects including Sky One (pictured left) in Melbourne – which is set to become Box Hill’s tallest tower, rising 36 levels.
Branded in a planning application as Willow Springs, the Rockbank parcel, 29 kilometres from town, is expected to be subdivided into about 377 plots of between 185 square metres to 650 sqm, around a public park.
Mr Xu told theurbandeveloper.com.au in this article that the decision to buy in Rockbank was spurred on “due to the strong, stable demand for land in Melbourne’s growth suburbs”.
“Rockbank is the perfect opportunity to bring our reputation and expertise to the land sector and diversify our robust property portfolio,” Mr Xu said.
“We have been creating vertical communities for many years now so we are very much looking forward to applying this knowledge to our first land project, and create a community that is different to what has been produced before.”
Elsewhere in Melbourne, Mr Xu is building two 18-storey towers and a smaller six-level building, on a 7244 square metre site in Box Hill which he bought for $51.8 million two years ago. This $350 million project is mooted to include 429 flats and 77 serviced apartments.
In Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs, Golden Age Group is also proposing to build the Sky Garden complex (pictured, top) – apartments over airspace of The Glen shopping arcade, which is controlled by Vicinity Centres.
In February, 2017, Mr Xu paid Grocon $75 million for an L-shaped apartment development site in the Melbourne CBD’s Spring Street, later securing US investment house Starwood Capital as a partner. Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which merged with Marriott Hotels last year, is one of the world’s biggest hospitality space suppliers.
In June it was reported Mr Xu bought 49-53 Wentworth Avenue, in Sydney’s inner suburb of Surry Hills, from developer Michael Teplitsky, with plans to spend $350 million repositioning it as a luxury inn.
