Paul Little to offload South Wharf Towers site

Former Toll Holdings boss Paul Little has put a South Wharf development site on the market with permits to build two residential towers with 940 apartments.

Developer Little, who now owns and runs Little Projects, will sell the site at 89 Lorimer St, which he paid $18.5 million for just two years ago, with expectations the site could now fetch three times that amount.

The ex-Essendon Football Club chairman is selling the 8847sqm property through Colliers International after recently gaining ministerial approval to build the apartment towers.

The towers will span 49 and 47 levels and have been designed by architects Elenberg Fraser – the designers behind a string of high-rise developments across Australia, including Melbourne’s Swanston Central.

There has been a distinct lack of residential sites for sale, with only three transactions in the CBD grid in 2015

Colliers’ Trent Hobart says the project, when finished, will “dwarf all projects that Mirvac have successfully completed at Yarra’s edge”.

“It’s an ideal city fringe residential location just 1km from the CBD, with view lines that span across vast parkland, the Yarra River, Port Phillip Bay and the Melbourne CBD,” Hobart says.

Fellow agent Bryson Cameron says a dearth of potential residential sites in Melbourne’s CBD will drive interest in Little’s land.

“Following the government-led planning changes in the City of Melbourne in 2015, there has been a distinct lack of residential sites for sale, with only three transactions in the CBD grid in 2015,” Cameron says.

“This site will address that underlying demand for a premium residential development site on the doorstep of the CBD, with the bonus here being the de-risked planning and infrastructure contribution framework and proven residential location.”