UEM Sunrise intent on making a statement
What do you do when you're a Malaysian Government-backed property developer intent on breaking into the hotly contested Melbourne apartment scene? Why you go big...really big with two grandiose towers!
Not content with dipping their toes into local waters, UEM Sunrise will rather perform the mother of all bombs as it seeks to implement itself firmly at the pointy end of Melbourne's apartment development scene. As has been well documented the wholly owned UEM Group subsidiary purchased two prime CBD sites late last year with grand intentions.
Asked of the two projects which are expected to go to public sales late 2014, UEM Sunrise Chief operating officer Raymond Cheah stated "Both projects will change the landscape of Melbourne city," Let's have a closer look at the two designs in question:
9-23 McKenzie Street
- Site size - 2,030 sqm
- Site purchased for $22.5 million or $11,084 per sqm
- Height - 35 floors and approximately 120 metres
- 388 Apartments
- Design - Cox Architecture
- one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments
- preliminary priced between A$400,000 to A$600,000 each
224-252 La Trobe Street
- Site area - 3,197 sqm
- Site purchased for $43.15 million or $13,497 per sqm
- Height - 82 floors and 265 metres
- 1343 dwellings
- Design - Elenberg Fraser
- one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments + serviced apartments
- preliminary price from AA$450,000 and A$650,000 each
Both designs are a-typical in shape, owing to the developers intent in delivering a product that makes a design statement, and in the case of 224-252 La Trobe Street, a monolithic statement at that.
According to Cheah, "We decided on Melbourne first as there is high population growth rate, with 1,750 people moving to the city every week. The occupancy rate for apartments in Melbourne is about 97 per cent. The student population is also growing, helped by major universities set up in the city. We expect a lot of Malaysians investing in our two projects".
Watch for a review of the respective planning applications in coming weeks.
>> Content in part sourced from Malaysia Chronicle and Business Today.