Construction on Australia’s largest air-rights development has commenced. The $450 million three-tower residential development, Sky Garden, sits atop The Glen in Melbourne’s south east.
The Glen is currently undergoing a $430 million redevelopment with the next retail stage, which includes a new format 8,000 square metre David Jones store, outdoor dining precinct and a new lifestyle and fashion precinct with 50 specialty stores, poised to launch this August. With construction of the retail project nearing completion, the construction of more than 500 apartments has now commenced.
Vicinity’s Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Grant Kelley said the residential project marks a new era it is their first residential mixed-use project and Australia’s biggest residential project being built over a retail destination.
“We are proud to partner in this landmark project with Golden Age Group – it is a very significant and ambitious mixed-use project, which is now under construction with a combined value close to $1 billion.
“This residential project is in line with Vicinity’s strategy to create market-leading destinations and deliver enhanced value for securityholders by realising value from mixed-use opportunities such as offices, hotels and apartments, at our flagship and high potential centres. Our strategy takes advantage of our shopping centres’ great locations around Australia as more and more people seek to live in areas which satisfy a range of diverse lifestyle needs,” Mr Kelley said.
Designed by Rothelowman, DKO Architecture and ASPECT Studios, Sky Garden will feature a 4,000 square metre ‘garden in the sky’ that will act as a community meeting place for residents.
The development boasts some impressive numbers, housing approximately 1,550 residents once complete.
Golden Age Group Founder and Managing Director Jeff Xu said the commencement of construction marked a new era in residential living for the suburb.
“Sky Garden’s 4,000 square metre rooftop garden is comparable in size to an inner-city Botanic Garden. The gardens are multi-functional, created with purpose and tailored to all different lifestyles and needs.
The construction contract for Sky Garden has been awarded to national builder Probuild, creating up to 500 jobs over the duration of the construction period, with 400 construction workers expected on site at the peak of the construction.
Victorian Managing Director of Probuild Luke Stambolis said they originally teamed up with Golden Age Group in late 2017, after its successful acquisition of the air-rights over the new southern end of The Glen.
“We’re constructing the shopping centre expansion below for Vicinity Centres and the residential towers above for Golden Age Group. We’ve been proud to help Vicinity unlock a carefully crafted adaptive re-use strategy on their asset. This is a unique project to be a part of.”
The three towers will be built and completed simultaneously with settlements expected to occur from early 2021. Sky Garden will include more than 7,200 panels across its 22,000sqm glass façade and will use four electric tower cranes and seven material hoists during construction.
The other Vicinity mixed-use development currently under construction is the $130 million Hotel Chadstone Melbourne, MGallery by Sofitel which is set open in November. The hotel complements Chadstone’s 10-level, 17,000 sqm office building which was completed in 2016 and remains fully leased.
Vicinity sold residential air rights above The Glen to Golden Age Group in 2017 for $60 million.
