Gurner gets sign off for first Club Maison project in Prahran
Multi-billion-dollar developer GURNERTM has been given the green light for the redevelopment for its first private residences and club concept, Club Maison.
The permit comes for the reinvigoration of a historic former bluestone church and former Sunday school hall at 145–151 High Street in Prahran 12 months after GURNERTM filed the plans to create 45 luxury apartments across six levels.
Also part of the plans, which was signed off by the City of Stonnington Council, is a 324 sqm food and beverage tenancy at ground level, and a 262 sqm rooftop bar, infinity pool and lounge with extensive views of Melbourne.
Long-time collaborators Warren and Mahoney Architects have designed the project with John Patrick Landscapes designing the lush greenery and exterior amenity.
The design is both sympathetic to the historical significance of both heritage buildings which date back to the 1870s, and representative of the new use as a high-end club-style offering designed for the discerning clientele.
GURNERTM general manager of boutique, Brooke Formosa said that to have enjoyed such a collaborative and supportive process with council underpins and reinforces their vision for this site which will reinvigorate this historic Gothic Revival building and inject new life into the site.
"We are incredibly happy that Council shares our affinity for this site and our plans to breathe it back to life as part of the vibrant Chapel Street precinct," Formosa said.
Formosa said Club Maison is a new asset class they are investing heavily into over the next 2 – 5 years, with aspirations to acquire, develop and hold a number of accommodation assets in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.
“This Club Maison project will bring everything for which GURNERTM is so well known – amenity, service, concierge, impeccable design and quality – together and recreate it for a new market.
“We have a passion and proven track record for reinvigorating heritage sites and this project will be no different."
Warren and Mahoney Principal Architect, Barrington Gohns said the Club Maison designs really evoke a fuller lifestyle offering.
"The striking geometry of the gothic design has strongly informed our design for the residences, which take on a more contemporary feel and boast all the luxuries and amenities today’s discerning professional aspires to," Gohns said.
“Like many of the projects we’re collaborating with GURNER on, the design challenge has been a trifecta of respecting and honouring the past, creating aspirational dwellings and, importantly, designing a lived experience that goes well beyond the aesthetic and function of the building.