Developer Changes Up Malvern Student Accommodation Plan

Spherical Developments has filed amended plans for a student accommodation project with the City of Stonnington, less than a year after winning planning permission.

The project originally was a part five-storey, part six-storey building with 124 student apartments and 127 beds at 909 -911 Dandenong Road, Malvern East.

A basement carpark with six parking spaces and access from Dandenong Road was also part of the plans designed by C Kairouz Architects.

Planning approval for the original plans were granted by the City of Stonnington Council in May 2022.

Application documents from May 2022 list Studio Apartments as the client. BCI records list Spherical Developments Pty Ltd as the developer for the project.

ASIC records said that Simon Broons and Samuel Phillip Roitman are the directors of the company Spherical Developments Pty Ltd with companies Seventh Dector Pty Ltd and Hodgebrook Pty Ltd holding shares in the company.

City of Stonnington’s planning register shows that amended plans were lodged on January 9, 2023.

The changes proposed include a deletion of the basement level and changes to the carparking.

▲ The site consists of two lots that sit alongside the main transport corridor Dandenong Road with transport links to the Clayton and Caulfield campuses of Monash University.

Council documents from May 2022 show that several previous applications to build student accommodation on the site with varying numbers of units had been made and refused.

These included a prior application for 200 student apartments which BCI records confirmed, stating that the number of units had also been amended.

VCAT had upheld all the refusals by the council. 

Carparking spaces and bicycle storage spaces are still listed as part of the project’s scope on the BCI record.

The project is expected to create a gross floor area of 6700 square metres.

A development cost of $10.5 million is listed on the BCI record with Corelogic records showing that both lots on the site were sold separately in 2019.

In July 2019, 911 Dandenong Road was sold for $3.98 million while one month later, the lot next door at 909 Dandenong Road was sold for $164,715.

Both the buyers and sellers information was withheld.

Investors and developers are expecting international students to return in large numbers with housing supply already under pressure, making purpose-built student accommodation or PBSA, an active sector of the property industry.

Developer Iglu has plans for a $53-million, 18-storey mixed-use tower along Anzac Parade to target several universities in Sydney.

Spherical Developments’ project is close to the Clayton and Caulfield campuses for Monash University.