Exclusive: Abadeen grab next Melbourne off the plan apartment development site
Abadeen is continuing to double down on Melbourne's premium owner-occupier market, grabbing a parkside development site in Caulfield North.
Having opened up shop in Victoria last year off the back of Abadeen's success in Sydney's Lower North Shore for the last two decades, Abadeen, led in Melbourne by industry veteran Andrew Leoncelli, beat out several other developers to secure 1,060 sqm on Caulfield Park.
The site at 219-229 Balaclava Road is north-facing and offers uninterrupted views to the north and northwest, over the park and out to the city.
It was offered by JLL with permit-approved plans for a new seven-level apartment development designed by CHT Architects (below). The permit was for 29 two and three-bedroom apartments, a four-bedroom penthouse, two ground-floor retail spaces and a home office.
Abadeen VIC will go back to the drawing board and is engaging a leading architect to tweak the plans to make the apartments larger, but they will stay within the same envelope of what's been approved.
Leoncelli says the timing is right for a high-quality product to come to the local market.
“This market hasn’t had something of the quality that we’re looking to deliver," Leoncelli says.
“We want to do something bigger than what’s been delivered before to cater to the sophisticated, wealthy, local owner-occupier.
"The building envelope is excellent but we feel the product should be larger and of a higher quality especially given the incredible north-facing Caulfield Park, City and Bay view lines."
The site was bought on long settlement terms, which should see construction commence toward the back end of 2025. It borders St Aloysius Church and two different tram routes are on its doorstep.
"The project continues Abadeen’s push into the east and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne’s owner-occupier, high-end apartment market," Leoncelli added.
The Caulfield North project will be Abadeen third in Melbourne. They announced themselves on the scene in the Melbourne off the plan apartment market with Maléa, just seven luxury apartments on Malvern East's Central Park where they've recently started construction.
They also have a development application with Stonnington Council for another development at 646 High Street in Prahran. They're planning 26 apartments in a striking Carr-designed building that curves around a listed Smooth Bark Apple tree.
Leoncelli says the feedback from the application has been positive.
Read more: First look: Abadeen lodge plans for second Melbourne apartment development
