Apartment future: St Kilda’s beachfront Novotel on the market
The much-loved beachside Esplanade strip in St Kilda could soon house a major luxury unit development with veteran Sydney developer Greg Shand putting the Novotel Hotel on the block for more than $100 million.
The bayside site has a permit for a three-tower, luxury apartment project and a change in ownership would likely spark a major redevelopment on the boulevard.
Both local and offshore developers are tipped to chase the site as there is still strong demand for top end units across Melbourne’s suburbs even as pockets of the inner city have slowed.
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Shand’s Barana Group has bought the hotel in 2012 from Tourism Asset Holdings Limited for around $55 million but prices have since surged.
Shand and his investors have also been selling down in Melbourne. In 2016, a Sydney-based financial advisory firm for wealthy Asian investors, iProsperity Group, bought their Novotel Melbourne Glen Waverley.
Novotel St Kilda is expected to be sold to make way for luxury apartments.
That group paid $73,666,666.66 for the hotel — a symbolic price as both 6 and 8 are considered lucky numbers in Chinese culture.
The Esplanade property comprises the eight level, 211 room, four-star Novotel Hotel that sports views over Port Phillip Bay, St Kilda beach and Melbourne’s city skyline on a substantial 5791 sqm block.
The permit, for a Metier3 designed project, includes development approval for 25,581 sqm of net saleable residential area over seven levels.
CBRE’s Mark Wizel, Josh Rutman and Julian White and Colliers International’s Trent Hobart, Tim Storey and Mark Burgio are marketing the property.
The view from St Kilda’s Novotel Hotel.
Wizel says both developers and financiers will be attracted to the very low construction risk presented by the relatively low rise project.
“The location is one of the best available in inner Melbourne offering uninterrupted bay and city views within easy reach of the CBD on nearly one and a half acres of very desirable real estate,” he says.
Hobart says a developer of the luxury residential complex will have an opportunity to take advantage of the very strong demand for high-end apartments. At nearby projects off the plan apartments have sold at more than $20,000 per sqm, reflecting the lack of supply in the area.
This article originally appeared on www.theaustralian.com.au/property.
