Lowe Living, ICON Kajima’s South Melbourne Precinct Greenlit

A $160-million mixed-use precinct project is poised to become a reality in South Melbourne after the City of Port Phillip approved plans.

Developer Lowe Living and property developer and financier ICON Kajima have partnered to work on the mixed-use development in the suburb.

The application was fast-tracked and received a planning permit just four months after it was filed.

Woods Bagot designed the plans for the precint that will now rise at the corner of Clarendon and York streets on the edge of the Melbourne CBD. 

Plans include a 2000sq m two-storey commercial office building, a 500sq m car park, 1000sq m of ground floor retail and 36 apartments.

The apartments will have be a mix of two, three and four bedrooms.

A minimum operational 7-star NatHERs rating will be targeted.

Lowe Living brought in ICON Kajima as a joint-venture partner to help speed up the project’s construction timeframe after acquiring the site and applying for the permit. 

It will begin construction in the fourth quarter of this year and has a construction schedule of 18 months. Sales are due to begin  in the third quarter of 2023.

Partnering with ICON Kajima is also designed to accelerate how often Lowe Living can bring a project to market, according to Lowe Living founder Tim Lowe.

“The fundamental reason for the joint-venture partnership is ICON Kajima’s experience in delivering exceptional projects of comparable size and scale,” Lowe, who is also managing director said.

“Our aim is to continue to acquire and bring to market one to two of these larger scale projects per annum.

“This partnership with ICON Kajima allows us to fast-track this objective for this South Melbourne project while maintaining our current pipeline activity across our boutique division.”

▲ ICON, backed by Kajima, partnered with Zagame for a $80-million office project on Cremorne Street in 2021.

ICON Kajima has a $1-billion project portfolio across Australia and New Zealand that includes  residential, commercial and mixed-use projects. 

Lowe Living has a $500-million pipeline of luxury residential and mixed-use projects in bayside suburbs in Melbourne.

The South Melbourne project will be the largest of these sites. 

“We feel very confident in South Melbourne’s owner-occupier market, and believe strongly that Lowe Living’s focus on luxury boutique projects across design and quality product will translate to a larger mixed-use precinct,” Lowe said.

ICON Kajima has previouslu partnered with other developers, most notably Zagame.

The company is owned by Kajima, one of Japan’s largest construction firms.