Planning minister approves Gurner’s $1b-plus South Melbourne village
The recently vacated City Mazda dealership in South Melbourne, opposite South Wharf, will make way for a $1 billion-plus village with apartments, offices, shops, a hotel and new showroom.
Planning minister Richard Wynne this morning approved Gurner’s proposal to replace 2-28 Montague Street and 80 Munro St with three towers, rising 38, 24 and 15 storeys atop a podium – one of 10 projects given the green light.
The developer’s director Tim Gurner first pitched the community in 2017, on properties owned by the Nossbaum family.
At the time, about 2200 dwellings (some build-to-rent) were planned; this is now 724 including hotel rooms and 24 residences allocated for affordable housing.
The office component has increased about 50 per cent – to 14,453 square metres.
The Cox Architecture designed project will also contain 5668 sqm of retail.
Part of the 9720 sqm parcel was for about a decade occupied by City Mazda – which recently moved into an ex-Holden dealership across the road at 42 Johnson St (story continues below).
Key site connects CBD and Docklands
The triangle shaped site is on the opposite side of the West Gate Freeway to South Wharf. The CBD, Docklands and Southbank are also walking distance as is Southern Cross train station.
“It has certainly been a long process from acquisition through to planning approval over the past three years but we appreciate how complex and critical this particular precinct is for the future of our great city, so we understand the minister’s need to get the process right,” Mr Gurner said. “We are grateful to now be able to move onto the next phase of the project and bring our vision for a truly world-class mixed-use precinct on this iconic site to life”.
The builder said it reduced the number of intended apartments so as to allow for non-residential components.
“That vision includes a 4.5-star hotel, a large commercial and retail offering and a series of hero state-of-the-art showrooms at ground level,” Mr Gurner added. “This will be a precinct where people will come to work, shop, dine, stay and be entertained, so we look forward to unveiling more information over the coming months”.
