Luxury New York-style hotel plans approved for listed Southbank site
A Southbank development, up for sale for the second time in just over two years, now comes with a hotel permit.
Expected to fetch around $15 million, the City Road site sold in 2015, however the sale to a foreign Chinese investor fell through because of a perceived restrictive planning scheme amendment.
Due to a change in the Melbourne Planning Scheme, it was perceived that amendment C270 would restrict use of the property and as a result, it led the investor to renegotiate on the sale. The property was then taken off the market.
This time round the vendors, Photography Studies College owner Julie Moss and Webjet non-executive director Steven Scheuer, are selling the 910 sqm site with approved plans for a 30 storey tower.
The mixed use hotel development is set to be 100 metres tall and will sit in the pricey precinct on Southbank, with prestige towers Eureka, Prima Pearl and Australia 108 nearby.
The four star luxury hotel will have 270 pod-style, hi-tech rooms with artistic and modern interiors.
It will include a ground floor cafe and hotel rooftop bar, with eight of the 30 levels dedicated to education space.
Julie Moss’ Photography College is keen to occupy as a tenant.
The development is being marketed through a global marketing campaign by Allard Shelton agents Michael Ryan, JAmes Gregson, Joseph Walton and Martin Huang.
Michael Ryan suggested developers are eager to make their mark on the hotel boom.
“The hotel sector appears to be outperforming many of the other property sectors in the Australian property market at the moment," he said.
"Not only are we rapidly growing as a population, Melbourne is also a major business hub and a safe, tourist destination.”
According to Deloittes 2017 Tourism and Hotel Market Report, International visitor numbers to Australia climbed 8.9% over the past year to 8.5 million, with an additional 700,000 visitors arriving on our shores.