Mirvac wins approval for towers opposite Princes Park
Mirvac has been given the green light to develop an all electric apartment project opposite Princes Park.
With buildings between four and 10 storeys, the proposal will replace nine Brunswick sites covering 6496 square metres – marketed as 699-703 Park Street but also including 182-192 Brunswick Road and 2-4 Sydney.
All up it will contain 166 dwellings – a mix of one, two, three and four bedrooms.
South facing units will have protected views over the park to the CBD, four kilometres away.
The project will also contain a row of four floor townhouses, offices, a café, 223 car parks and 210 bike bays.
The developer paid $40 million for the parcel making way for the project in mid-2021; that seller, JW Land unsuccessfully sought to replace it initially (in 2017) with a 14 level tower containing 333 dwellings then (in 2018), 10 storeys, with 255 apartments.
Mirvac bypassed the City of Merri-bek and Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal – applying last year to then-planning minister Richard Wynne via the Development Facilitation Program which aims to speed up assessment of developments that will employ Victorians and deliver a substantial public benefit.
699 Park Street
Mirvac appointed Bates Smart to pen the Brunswick project; the architect also designed the developer’s Melburnian in 2001 and Eastbourne, four years ago.
The end value of 699 Park Street is estimated to be c$280m.
Demolition of the former hotel and surrounding buildings will begin shortly.
Elsewhere in Melbourne, Mirvac recently unveiled a proposed apartment complex, Trielle, at Yarra’s Edge in Docklands, and is readying to launch another build-to-sell residential project at 31 Queens Road – a site it bought last year (story continues below).
The group has also been shortlisted, against Cbus, to develop Treasury Square, a prime site at the city’s south east tip, on ex-rail yards diagonally adjacent to 1 Spring St, with what is expected to be a residential-based, multi-tower mixed use complex.
“We have $3.7 billion invested in Victoria, across our apartments, master-planned communities, retail, office and Build to Rent portfolios in locations around Melbourne,” Mirvac general manager, Residential, Victoria, Elysa Anderson, said.
“The Mirvac difference, underpinned by the quality of our builds, our design excellence and extensive amenity, is increasingly valued by our purchasers in the current climate,” she added.
“This is reflected in the strong levels of repeat purchasers at our projects, and is a testament to the recognition of our brand, not to mention a competitive advantage in the current market and our 50 year track record of delivering exceptional living experiences across Australia,” according to the executive.
Mirvac doubles down in Brunswick
Elsewhere in Brunswick, Mirvac recently started constructing a 12 level Build to Rent project with 527 dwellings at 395-401 Albert St.
“Mirvac remains focused on delivering much needed, high quality and well designed housing options in prime inner-city locations to address the shortage of new homes,” Ms Anderson, said.
“The fundamentals that drive residential demand remain strong – low unemployment, wages growth, the return of overseas migration and scarcity of quality product – so the timing is just right for us to prepare to launch another highly anticipated apartment project,” she added, of 699 Park St.
“The planning approval for this site demonstrates the strength of Mirvac’s brand and ability to deliver in the current market, coupled with prospective purchasers’ ongoing appetite for premium, lifestyle-focused apartments,” according to the executive.
“Responding to unmet demand in the owner-occupier apartment market is a significant opportunity for us, particularly with our unique and strong value proposition of an outstanding location coupled with exceptionally designed product– and we are seeing this at our Tullamore and Yarra’s Edge communities, with FORME at Tullamore over 95 per cent sold and only a handful of apartments remaining for sale in Voyager at Yarra’s Edge”.
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