Punt Hill to Open 127 Serviced Apartments
The developments will increase the number of serviced apartment rooms in metropolitan Melbourne to more than 4500, reflecting around 30 per cent of all tourist accommodation rooms available for rent in the city.
This compares to an 11 per cent slice of the pie that the serviced apartment sector had ten years ago.
The biggest serviced apartment project is set for South Yarra, where Punt Hill is planning a 72 room project at Michael Yates’ 7 Yarra Street. The former inner city industrial hub is being converted into a mix of commercial office and residential high rise buildlngs with ground floor retail.
Another project, at the prominent former Arkana site at the intersection of Lonsdale, Foster and Thomas Streets in central Dandenong, will deliver about 55 rooms to the market by the end of next year.
The suburbs surrounding Dandenong including Dandenong South and Carrum Downs are experiencing a surge in industrial based development, which is only expected to intensify over the next five years after the Eastlink motorway opens.
Punt Hill managing director Arno Caros says his company’s strategy is to target the “business traveller”, which visits south eastern office and industrial based businesses.
“There’s been huge growth in commercial and industrial occupancy in the areas we have targeted, said Mr Caros. “We are offering these clients new stylish, contemporary apartments in complexes that include business centres, conference rooms and full internet connection.”
“The challenge for us will be attracting visitors to stay overnight in Dandenong or South Yarra, instead of driving into the city,” he said.
According to Jones Lang LaSalle Research, the number of serviced apartments in metropolitan Melbourne has surged over the last ten years.
Its latest Digest Melbourne analysis of the tourist accommodation market says that while the number of hotel rooms in Melbourne has increased 57.9 per cent in the last ten years, the number of serviced apartments has surged by 309 per cent – making it the fastest growing tourist accommodation type in the city.
