Local Completes Final Stage of $380m Kensington BtR

Residents have moved in after the completion of the second and final stage of the $380-million build-to-rent project Local Kensington in Melbourne. 

The first stage of the project, on the corner of Macaulay Road and Stubbs Street, less than 4km from the CBD, was completed in August this year. 

Local Kensington comprises six buildings in a campus-style layout with shared amenity spaces including a 24-hour gym, wellness centre, work-from-home spaces, private cinema, creative studio and an outdoor pool. 

The precinct offers 477 apartments including 33 social and affordable, and nine specialist disability accommodation homes.

Women’s Property Initiative partnered with Local for the social and affordable housing while Home in Place partnered on the specialist disability accommodation component. 

Local co-founder Dan McLennan said that 35 per cent of the first stage had been leased.

“The highest performance is probably the swift take-up of three-bedroom apartments, indicating that there’s a positive shift in families seeing the benefits of our offering,” McLennan said.

All of the social housing apartments and more than 70 per cent of the apartments allocated for affordable housing for women have been occupied. 

The project is certified as Climate Active Carbon Neutral with a 4.5 Star Nabers rating, 7.8 Star NatHERS rating and has the first and only 6 Star Green Star Design Review rating for a build-to-rent project. 

Architects Hayball designed the project, which was built by Hacer.

▲ The precint includes solar farms atop the buildings.

Macquarie Asset Management is Local’s main shareholder and NAB financed the project. 

Local has two other projects in Melbourne for a total of more than 800 apartments under construction in Box Hill and South Melbourne. 

Its South Melbourne project is across the street from Gamuda Land’s The Canopy, also currently under construction, on the border of the Fishermans Bend precinct.