AirTrunk Founder Files Plans for St Kilda Art Deco Buildings

A developer headed by the founder of AirTrunk data centres has submitted plans for a four-storey mixed-use block with the City of Port Phillip council.

FSST is the developer behind the proposal, which is headed by Robin Khuda, the founder and chief of the hyperscale data centre operator.

He has an estimated wealth of $600 million while AirTrunk is valued at more than $5 billion.

The project is planned for a 1603sq m site at 3-5, 7, 9 and 15 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda.

Four separate lots make up the site, which has an art-deco heritage-listed building on it.

It is on the beach end of Fitzroy Street where it curves to head south along the coast and becomes The Esplanade.

There is a frontage of 21.73m along Fitzroy Street next to a tramline.

Warren and Mahoney Architects designed the plans, which include retail space on the ground floor and apartments above.

The plans comprise 16 residential apartments above the ground floor’s 327sq m of retail space and 244sq m of communal space.

Two basement levels would provide 40 carparking spaces, five of which would be reserved for retail workers and customers along with 22 bike storage spaces.

▲ The site has more than 21.m of frontage to Fitzroy Street. Image: NearMap

Council records show an estimated construction cost of $22.3 million and CoreLogic’s property records show that 3-5, 7 and 9 Fitzroy Street exchanging hands in June, 2021. 

The 3-5 Fitzroy Street parcel sold for $3.5 million, 7 Fitzroy Street made $1.6 million and 9 Fitzroy Street $2.7 million.

Buildings on the site date back to circa 1885 (3-9 Fitzroy Street) and 1935 (11-15 Fitzroy Street) as examples of Victorian and interwar Moderne architectural styles respectively.

Although the site sits within a heritage overlay, there are no controls that apply to the internal structures.

The buildings at 3-9 Fitzroy Street are graded as significant with many alterations having occurred over the years, the buildings at 11-15 Fitzroy Street are listed as contributory.

The plans by FSST include retaining all the facades of the buildings, reinstating the original roofs to a depth of 10m and rebuilding some of the ground floor retail space to follow the original storefront layouts.

Demolition of the internal structures behind the facade are deemed necessary in order to excavate the basement levels for car parking.

A new lobby entrance for the apartments will be created out of the storefront for 9 Fitzroy Street.

Also in St Kilda, Tim Gurner recently listed his own residence in his Saint Moritz project.