Sale Heralds New Future For Melbourne’s Pentridge Village Site

Melbourne based property development firm Future Estate has acquired the remaining undeveloped lots at the high profile Pentridge Village site in Coburg from receivers and managers, FTI Consulting.

CBRE’s Mark Granter, Justin Clarkson, Scott Orchard and Duncan McCulloch steered the marketing campaign for the significant inner-urban site, which comprises almost 37,000sqm of land formerly occupied by Melbourne’s iconic Pentridge jail.

Mr Granter said the campaign had attracted widespread interest from both local and offshore parties, which he attributed to the property’s development potential.

"The strong ongoing net migration to Victoria and Melbourne has created significant interest in residential and mixed use development sites generally, particularly in the inner suburbs,” Mr Granter said.

Future Estate specialises in residential real estate and is currently developing Australian projects with a completion value of $450 million. Current projects include Parc Vue in Bundoora, Victoria; Driftwood in Blacks Beach and Riviera at Mackay in North Queensland – all of which have been more than 80 per cent pre-sold.

Future Estate Founder and Managing Director Ben Anderson said: “Pentridge Village represents an exciting opportunity for Future Estate to develop an iconic Melbourne landmark in the fast growing suburb of Coburg. Our goal is to contribute to the social fabric and amenity of this exciting area, offering a great place to live, work, rest and play.”

The Pentridge acquisition includes 12 sites ranging in size from 1,670sm to 5,618sqm, as well as 10 retail properties and eight partly completed retail shells. It also incorporates 161 former prison cells.

Mr Granter said the site had the potential to become a focal point within Coburg and an important future hub under the Victorian State Government’s urban development strategy for the area.

“The sale campaign provided an opportunity to acquire a masterplan approved development comprising a range of sites and existing property with a variety of potential outcomes,” Mr Granter said.

CBRE’s Justin Clarkson linked the strong buyer interest in the campaign to the factthat a new owner could stage the project and undertake developments of varying scale and density in an established location, just eight kilometres from the Melbourne CBD.

“While acknowledging this is a site with a complex history and a number of issues to consider, there is the opportunity to reposition and rebrand the development in the market and capitalise on Melbourne’s continued population growth,” Mr Clarkson said.