Orchard Piper secure Toorak's Mercedes Benz dealership, plot mixed-use precinct
The luxury apartment developer, Orchard Piper, has paid $67 million for the Mercedes Benz dealership in Toorak, with a view to create a new mixed-use precinct.
The sprawling 3,600 sqm site at 7-11A and 17-19 Carters Avenue, in the heart of Toorak's retail and commercial precinct, will see $150 million worth of luxury apartments developed, as well as offices and shops, to revamp the village as a vibrant and modern-day high street.
It's been a three years process for Orchard Piper to secure the 10 individual titles. In addition to the recent purchase, Orchard Piper spent $28 million on a 1,400 sqm holding on the corner of Toorak and Mathoura Road, taking their spending in the affluent Melbourne suburb to just under $100 million. The end value across the two projects is expected to be $550 million.
Primed as the last remaining site in Toorak Village, earmarked as a Key Development Site under the Stonnington Council’s planning scheme, Orchard Piper is set to submit plans for the site’s reformation as a $400 million mixed-use precinct featuring a ‘super-premium’ residential offering with class leading lifestyle amenities, complemented by high-end retail and commercial suites for boutique family office style owner-occupiers.
Orchard Piper, led by Luke McKie and Rick Gronow, secured the sites from the Hagen family, who had pieced the landholding together since 1932.
“Having a close and trusting relationship with the Hagen family allowed us to shape this deal to suit the vendors, they were interested in a high quality outcome for the site, given their longstanding ownership and history,” Gronow says.
“We have great respect and admiration for the long-standing partnership John Worrell and Karl Hagen shared. The Worrell family began piecing this land together in 1932, following World War I, which eventuated in this un-repeatable parcel on the doorstep of Toorak Village."
This latest acquisition made by Orchard Piper takes the developer’s pipeline to more than $1.1 billion of addresses in Melbourne’s most blue-chip locations.
Regarded as Melbourne’s leading luxury developer in the residential sector, Orchard Piper’s recent Stonnington project Huntingtower Road was last month awarded the National Winner of the Master Builders Associated for best Medium Density building over five dwellings.
Designs for the revamping of the Mercedes Benz location are set to be unveiled in 2023, with construction to commence the following year in-line with Mercedes’ lease ending. Construction on the Mathoura and Toorak Road corner site is on track to commence early next year.
McKie says the architectural response to the 3,600 sqm site should reflect the significance of its location.
"We’ve been actively involved in the area for over thirteen years, having developed six previous projects within minutes of this site,” McKie says.
“It is now widely acknowledged that Toorak Village is coming into a new era. This combined with our two new sites and Stonnington Council’s recent street art and furniture investment will ensure the Village lifts to new heights."