Woolies North Melbourne site for sale
It's not every day an inner city island site of over 8,000 square metres with a 20 year pre-commitment from one of Australia's largest retailers is offered for sale. Earlier this month site proponent Woolworths listed for sale with CBRE 101-117 Canning Street, north Melbourne.
Covered extensively throughout the media, Woolworths battle to win approval for the site culminated in success at VCAT during May 2013. Much to the chagrin of local action groups such as RAID/3051 Integrated who voiced concerns over height, scale, traffic and liquor availability, VCAT ruled to uphold the Planning Minister's initial approval of the project.
In its report, VCAT remarked:
On many levels this proposal will ‘lead the way’ in terms of the urban renewal that is sought in this precinct, in a manner that achieves a high level of architectural merit and urban design outcomes.
We find that the overwhelming opportunity that this site presents to achieve a substantial intensification of development in a location which is extremely well serviced, must be given greater weight than any desire to achieve a development that respects the existing scale of development in the surrounding neighbourhood.
Designed by Buchan Group, 101-117 Canning Street features:
- Two residential towers of 10 & 16 levels or 36 & 54 metres in height
- 304 apartments in total
- 611 car parking spaces
- 5,860sqm of retail space
- 4,350sqm Woolworths on a 20 year lease
- staged development potential
101-117 Canning Street is for now north Melbourne's largest development site until Gramercy Parks by HWD Australia is formalised. Masterplanned by Plus Architecture, the Gramercy Parks project will carry "6 buildings with over 700 residences and a fabulous collection of shops, cafes, restaurants, in addition to a school, childcare and medical centre, eco-gymnasium, community centre and offices." A tower of 30 levels is expected for the site.