Neometro secure next apartment development site
The design-focused Melbourne developer, Neometro, is returning to the St Kilda area, securing a prime development site for almost $22 million.
The vast 5,008 sqm St Kilda East site at 97 Alma Road was snapped up by Neometro just before Christmas.
Neometro director James Tutton said 2021 was a year of very significant growth for Neometro.
“We made some major acquisitions and securing Alma Rd days before Christmas was the perfect icing on the cake," Tutton said.
“We’re very active on the northside – Brunswick, Northcote, Thornbury, Fitzroy etc. We’ve got a long history in the southside too and we’re looking forward to getting back there."
Neometro will run a design competition with a number of architecture firms before confirming who will design the project, which at this stage is expected to yield apartments and townhouses, given the size of the site.
"We think we'll be able to deliver beautiful park fronting apartments and beautiful green townhouses ranging in size - some more of a family home, some more suited to couples," Tutton said, adding that there will be a nice variety of sizes on offer.
It's a return to the St Kilda area for Neometro, whose last development was Harper Lane, completed in 2013 on St Kilda's Inkerman Street.
"We've been extremely active on the north side of Melbourne, but we've been looking for a while for a site that provided a platform for us to come back," Tutton said.
"Our view is that the quality of development on the Northside has been really really good, and the Southside just hasn't been the same level of quality - particularly around the St Kilda East area, so we thought it would be a great opportunity to up the ante in terms of development south of the river."
The highly sought after site, dubbed Saint Alma, which is currently occupied by a commercial building and two all-weather sports fields which is leased to Fitness First until 2024, was popular among developers.
Colliers agents Peter Bremner, Jozef Dickinson, Trent Hobart and Ted Dwyer secured the sale.
Bremner said Saint Alma represented the ultimate inner-city opportunity, being directly opposite beautiful parkland in a prime bayside location all within walking distance to chic and popular Windsor.
The site is directly opposite Alma Park and has easy access to all modes of public transport and major arterial roads including Windsor and Balaclava Train Stations and Dandenong and St Kilda Road trams.
Neometro is currently selling Nine Wilson Ave, their final apartment project in Brunswick's Jewell Station Village, a multi-stage development that began back in 2016.
Over 35 per cent of the 73 apartments on offer have been snapped up over the traditionally quiet Christmas holiday period.
Designed by Neometro’s long standing collaborators, MAArchitects, and local landscape designers Mud Office, Nine Wilson Ave will comprise a range of one, two and three-bedroom apartments, as well as the lofts.
