TV show producers lodge plans to replace St Kilda’s Oslo Hotel with five family-home-sized terraces

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Producers of hit TV show The Block have turned their planning focus to another project, again in Melbourne’s inner-bayside suburb of St Kilda.

An application lodged last month, being reviewed by the City of Port Phillip council, seeks to redevelop the Oslo Hotel at 38 Grey Street (pictured, top) with five triple-storey terraces, each with four bedrooms, a study, rooftop pool and a garage which would be built off Dalgety Lane.

Each home will also include a formal and informal lounge room, ground floor courtyards and upper storey decks (refer proposed floorplans, below).

The terraces may be the biggest dwellings ever developed for the show which first aired in 2003 with the renovation of a small block of flats in Sydney’s Bondi.

The proposed St Kilda homes, which will incorporate historic facades, will fill the 1323 square metre site the show’s producers bought following an off-market deal earlier this year for a speculated $11.8 million. The hotel was reportedly acquired from beneficiaries who inherited it from a former owner who recently died.

The Oslo Hotel in its current form has a two-star rating on Australia’s tripadvisor website – with 64 per cent of the reviews rating the venue as “terrible”.

Much like the Gatwick Hotel at nearby 34 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, which is the subject of a series of The Block being aired at present, the Oslo Hotel is known to have accommodated vulnerable guests seeking affordable accommodation.

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According to the Oslo Hotel website, dorm rooms can be rented for $120 per week equating to $17 per night.

The complex, which walkingmelbourne.com.au reports has previously been known as Killeen and Westbourne Terraces, was built as five individual townhouses in 1871.

The Oslo Hotel refurbishment will be the subject of the 15th season of The Block.

It would be the fourth former motel repurposed for the show, following the redevelopment of the Biz Hotel in South Melbourne (season seven), the Hotel Saville in South Yarra (season 11) and The Gatwick Hotel.

Floorplans for the proposed five terraces, being reviewed by the Melbourne council, here:

Ground floor plans for the proposed redevelopment of 38 Grey Street, St Kilda
Second floor plans for the proposed redevelopment of 38 Grey Street, St Kilda
Upper level plans for the proposed redevelopment of 38 Grey Street, St Kilda

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Marc Pallisco

A freelance property writer and experienced analyst, Marc is the co-founder of realestatesource.com.au