Coles Group pushes shop top apartment developments in Melbourne and Sydney

Coles Group pushes shop top apartment developments in Melbourne and Sydney
Mark BaljakMay 31, 2018

Coles Group Property Development's latest intended apartment development has hit planning, expanding on the firm's push to fully capitalise upon their significant land holdings.

Plans were lodged earlier this week with Ku-ring-gai Council for a considerable Lindfield development. In line with two current Melbourne projects, the existing Lindfield Coles across 376-390 Pacific Highway will be demolished in order to accommodate a multi-level mixed-use development with a construction value just shy of $58 million.

Christiansen O'Brien Architects are the principal design force behind the new complex which would see 70 one, two and three bedroom apartments above hundreds of car parking spaces and 4,840 square metres of retail/commercial area.

Specialist retail designers MIMA have also had a hand in design duties, specifically assisting with the finer grain materiality and place-making elements of the design.

Coles Group pushes shop top apartment developments in Melbourne and Sydney
Pacific Highway perspective. Image: Christiansen O'Brien

As part of the development a 1927 Inter-War Old English Style building fronting Pacific Highway will be retained. The new build is slated to include 698 square metres of dedicated amenities atop the podium will separate dual residential wings.

Meanwhile in Melbourne, Coles Group Property Development is also pushing dual significant apartment projects.

Work is advancing on the rebirth of Coles Elsternwick which will be known as 'The Mark' upon completion. Rothelowman and i2C Design created the scheme that sees 173 apartments above a new and expanded Coles Supermarket - Liquorland which are themselves above a three level basement car park.

Builder Hacer has for the most completed the basement works, meaning that the concrete structure will begin to rise above Glen Huntly Road over coming months with an eye toward completion mid next year.

Coles Group pushes shop top apartment developments in Melbourne and Sydney
The Mark and April's construction status. Images: Hacer

Also in the wings is the approved transformation of Richmond Plaza Shopping Centre. Coles Group Property Development and project partner Gresham are sitting on the right to develop the Bridge Road asset into a sizeable retail and apartment project.

Design practice SJB's late 2017 image, seen below, depicts part of the approved scheme which includes 300 plus apartments, a full line supermarket, offices and gym. The design's ground plane includes new laneways and access points which intend to open up the development to its surrounds.

The design responded carefully and considerately to the heritage significance of Bridge Road, delivering pedestrian focussed scale at the street edges, across a common podium that also sought to hide the development’s car parking requirements.

Rising from the podium form, four extruded building forms were massed across the site, up to a height of 12 storeys. This approach recognised the sensitivities associated with the various interfaces, amenity impacts on neighbouring residential development and prominence at a major intersection within an important activity centre.

SJB

Coles has held approval for the project since 2013 when VCAT ruled on the project, ultimately allowing an 11-storey redevelopment to proceed. 

Coles Group pushes shop top apartment developments in Melbourne and Sydney
Richmond Plaza holds approval. Image: SJB

Mark Baljak

Mark Baljak was a co-founder of Urban.com.au. He passed away on Thursday 8th of November 2018 after a battle with cancer. He was 37. Mark was a keen traveller, having visited all six permanently-inhabited continents and had a love of craft beer. One of his biggest passions was observing the change that has occurred in Melbourne over the past two decades. In that time he built an enormous library of photos, all taken by him, which tracked the progress of construction on building sites from across metropolitan Melbourne.

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