Near 60-levels for Major South Yarra Corner
Artist's render - 58 level South Yarra tower. Credit: BATES SMART.It is considered the most prominent corner outside Melbourne’s CBD and, as such, venture capitalist Larry Kestelman thinks a recently permitted 41-level skyscraper is not lofty enough.
The businessman instead wants to build a 58-level tower as the centrepiece of a new village at the north-west corner of Toorak Road and Chapel Street in South Yarra – on a site he just bought for $85 million from developers who failed to get the smaller proposal off the ground.
The taller tower would substantially lift the height of what would be suburban Melbourne’s tallest skyscraper.
The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal last year approved a 483-unit village to replace the block currently occupied by the low-rise Capitol Bakeries building. Apartments in the 41-level proposal, branded The Capitol, were being marketed for much of last year.
The 5600-square-metre property has been the subject of numerous permit applications, each proposal generally taller than the last.
Only a couple of years ago the block was approved for a controversial 38-level complex with more than 200 flats.
Mr Kestelman has requested up to 660 apartments but is expecting the final number to be lower, with buyers consolidating adjoining dwellings.
The taller tower would rise about 190 metres, with a spire taking it to about 208 metres. By comparison, the current permit allows for a building of almost 140 metres.
Mr Kestelman told The Age the proposed Bates Smart village would include “the most exclusive apartments in Melbourne” – offering six-star quality with a concierge and other resident-only services such as a car wash.
A new multi-level shopping centre will add 4530 square metres of high-end retail space to the corner of the two busy strips. But unlike previous proposals for the block, the new village will not include offices.
Frank Vinci, director of Vinci Carbone, markets development sites across Melbourne, and he says the South Yarra corner would be one of the most prominent and valuable development sites outside the CBD.
He said the suburb attracted high sales rates for apartments, and retail space was more expensive than many prime retail strips in the city.
Earlier this year Whitehorse City Council approved a 33-level, 419-unit apartment building for an open-air car park on the corner of Carrington Road and Station Street, Box Hill, about 14 kilometres east of town.
Outside the city area – deemed to include the CBD and abutting precincts including Southbank, Docklands and St Kilda Road – the Box Hill proposal is the tallest apartment building approved for metropolitan Melbourne. Not far from the Capitol site, but closer to town, the Royal Domain Tower at 368 St Kilda Road rises 42 levels, or about 146 metres.
Mr Kestelman founded telecommunications company Dodo but recently sold an interest for a reported $150 million.
Since last year his development company LK Property Group has acquired large inner-city sites including a Queens Road building, where his offices are currently based, and another South Yarra property, the former Watergrill restaurant at 300 Toorak Road.
LK Property Group is also building a 37-level building on a 912-square-metre site opposite the Eureka tower in Southbank. In St Kilda, Mr Kestelman is developing a five-level luxury apartment project behind the Elephant & The Wheelbarrow Hotel in Fitzroy Street.
Earlier this year Mr Kestelman hosted a forum, The Big Pitch, rewarding young entrepreneurs with cash to advance technology ventures.