Peppers' Southbank intentions subside as 64-68 Clarendon listed for sale
Melbourne's sparkling hotel sector may have taken a dent, as plans for Mantra Group's second Melbourne Peppers outlet at 64-68 Clarendon Street look to have faltered.
The corner block development site has been listed for sale with South Melbourne-based Dixon Kestles, with no mention of the proposed Peppers-branded hotel which was to have opened during February next year. Rather Dixon Kestles note the project as simply having a permit in place for 33 levels and 10,080 square metres of gross building area.
Furthermore updated renders of 64-68 Clarendon Street now have the podium structure reworked, with all Peppers branding removed. The development initially gained approval during late 2015 as a residential hotel tower.
Builder Atelier Projects lists the Clarendon Street tower as a current project, although precious little has occurred since mid last year when a piling rig lay idle onsite. A groundbreaking ceremony was held jointly between then project manager Point Polaris and Mantra Group onsite during July last year.
Atelier Projects list ZFN Property Group as being behind the $60 million project which held a build value of $35 million.
After opening an initial Peppers-branded Melbourne outlet in Docklands at the turn of 2016, Mantra Group considered the Southbank tower instrumental as part of their aggressive expansion plans throughout Australian and New Zealand. Peppers Southbank was slated to include 162 new suites.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Mantra Group Regional General Manager Doug Flavell was bullish on Melbourne's second Peppers presence. "We’re confident Peppers Southbank will provide a market-leading hotel offering, well positioned to become the region’s premier corporate and leisure hotel.
The hotel’s location couldn’t be more perfect for both business and leisure guests with Melbourne’s central business district, Crown Casino, the Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre, and the city’s finest shopping and dining precincts all within walking distance.”
That sentiment has been maintained, albeit diagonally opposite at the corner of Clarendon Street and City Road where Mantra Group came to terms with developer BPM regarding a new Southbank hotel late last year.
Dubbed Mantra on City Road, the 46 storey tower is at practical completion at the hands of builder Icon, and will be managed by Mantra Group when it opened for business. The project was initially marketed as private apartments dubbed Shadow Play.
Mantra Group's swift move to seemingly replace one Southbank outlet with another followed their announcement of Melbourne outlet. Mantra M-City in Clayton will include 250 dedicated hotel suites, in addition to Mantra Group letting and adjacent tower for a further 180 serviced apartments as part of Saraceno Group's $1 billion mixed-use development on the corner of Dandenong Road and Blackburn Road.
