Lowe Living file $160 million mixed-use, South Melbourne development plans
The design-driven Melbourne developer and builder Lowe Living has made a play for its largest project to date, submitting plans for a $160 million mixed-use development in the heart of South Melbourne.
Lowe Living, led by its founder Tim Lowe, will turn a two-level office building on the corner of Clarendon and York Streets into a mixed-use precinct with 1,000 sqm of ground floor retail, two levels of office space, and six levels of luxury apartments.
The adjoining three-level car park on Ross Place will be retained for parking for the retail and office components of the project.
Woods Bagot has put together the plans for the project, with the designs resembling a tiered horseshoe which will allow natural light to penetrate through an eight-level void into each commercial tenancy and residential level.
The horseshoe design has also allowed for the creation of numerous dual-fronted apartments with expansive terraces. There are 36 apartments in total, two, three and four-bedroom configurations ranging in size from 110 sqm to 390 sqm.
Woods Bagot have proposed polychromatic brickwork and repetition of rhythm, scale and proportion so the building was in keeping with the surrounding late 19th and early 20th century architecture in South Melbourne.
Landscape architects Acre have been engaged to create a verdant botanic setting in both the soaring void and vertical landscapes.
The existing car parking bays on title mean Lowe Living can position the retail and commercial parking off-site and deliver a minimum of two car parks per apartment via the on-site basement, complete with private lockable garages that include electric car charging provision. The building will be targeting a minimum 7-Star NatHERs rating in operation.
Tim Lowe said the latest acquisition represented the next evolution of the business, drawing on its expertise in the boutique development space to leverage more larger-scale residential and mixed-use projects, while retaining a distinct customer focus on luxury owner-occupiers.
“Fundamentally our core philosophy hasn’t changed. We are astutely focused on the luxury owner occupier and downsizer market and have a very specific buyer in mind," Lowe said.
"By seeking out larger sites in locations like South Melbourne, we can apply this knowledge on a grander scale to projects that have scope for more height and mixed-use applications.
“This allows us to create larger apartments that are still boutique in terms of volume, just with larger floorplates and more amenity to conceptualise. We always have, and will continue to prioritise luxury, and will be targeting $1.4m - $9.5m price points within this South Melbourne project.
“This site in particular, appealed to us because of the demand for luxury commercial in city outskirts like South Melbourne, in particular the distinct lack of super high-end luxury apartment stock in the South Melbourne Market precinct.
“This really was a rare opportunity to find such a large development site in South Melbourne; there really aren’t many remaining undeveloped sites of this scale, if at all.
“We will always retain a focus on the Bayside market but we are keen to support this with a portfolio of larger sites. We are actively targeting more acquisitions and ideally want to be developing one to two larger mixed-use projects per annum."
Plans were submitted to council in August and are now pending permit approval.
Lowe Loving has a $450m pipeline of luxury residential and mixed-use sites located inand around Melbourne’s Bayside, purchased the site via an on-market campaign earlier this year.
