Malaysian developer OSK Property has snapped up a site in Melbourne’s Southbank for an eye-watering $27.25 million.
Corelogic property records show the sales was agreed upon in September 2022 and settled in November.
The 1597sq m site at 190 City Road was acquired from Australian-based investment group Hexa Group.
Plans were designed by Rothelowman Architects for a 40-storey residential tower with 308 apartments for the site but a development application was not submitted to the City of Melbourne council.
Hexa Group bought the site in November 2020 for $18.5 million, according to Corelogic property records.
A three-storey office building currently occupies the site.
Colliers’ Leon Ma, Oliver Hay, Daniel Wolman and Matt Stagg and JLL’s Jesse Radisich, Josh Rutman, David Hill and MingXuan Li managed the sale of the site through an international expressions-of-interest campaign.
It attracted interest from local and international buyers, owner-occupiers and developers as several uses can be applied to the site.
The site is near Beulah’s SouthBank project and close to other key landmarks in Southbank including the Eureka Tower, Australia 108, the Boyd Community Hub, the Crown Melbourne Casino complex and buildings and the Southbank Arts Precinct along St Kilda Road.
It is also near the entrances and exits to the West Gate Freeway.
“Southbank has long been a favoured development location for both local and off-shore developers, and despite some of the challenges presented with the site specifically, as well as the broader market, the result achieved is a stong testament to the long-term confidence being placed in the market by some of the biggest property groups,” Radisich said.
“The revitalisation of the arts precinct will bring increased tourism and foot traffic to the area and will no doubt add tremendous value to the future development of 190 City Road.”
OSK Property is the development arm of the Malaysian-based company OSK Holdings Berhad.
The developer is also behind the $2.8-billion Melbourne Square mixed-use precinct project in Southbank, comprising open space and several residential and commercial towers and a hotel.
OSK’s Melbourne Square project is just a block away from the City Road site` on Kavanagh Street but it opted to purchase the site as it was a strategic holding and will help form part of a larger parcel for a future development project.
