ApartmentsClare BurnettWed 27 May 26
Singaporean Developers Reveal 325-Home St Kilda Road Scheme
Plans have been submitted to develop a 325-apartment project in Melbourne after the site changed hands for nearly $100 million eight years ago.
Singapore-based Wing Tai Holdings Limited acquired the 464 St Kilda Road site for $95.38 million in 2018 alongside Abacus Property Group.
It subsequently acquired its joint-venture partner Abacus’s stake in the site in 2022 for a reported $49.4 million.
The site is home to the Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce headquarters, an eight-storey 1960s office designed by Bernard Evans; architect, Australian Army officer and former Lord Mayor of Melbourne.
Wing Tai Holdings acquired the site under its Wingspring Trust vehicle, which is the proponent of the permit application now before the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning.
The developer, a major player in Singaporean property development with group activities across Malaysia, Australia, Hong Kong, China and Japan, wants to build an 18-storey tower.
Under the Cox Architecture-designed plans, the heritage significant VACC building on the 4653sq m site would be “carefully dismantling”.
The original metal fabric of the St Kilda Road building would be conserved and reinstated as the podium of the new tower above.
The apartments would be 172 of one bedroom, 63 two, 66 three and 24 of four bedroom.
Parking for 254 cars would be provided.
The site is between Fawkner Park and Albert Park, and near to the Royal Botanic Gardens. The Anzac train station is 800m awat and Melbourne CBD 4km to the north.
St Kilda Road has been attracting considerable attention as developers progress with their projects and the area transitions away from its heritage as a commercial office heartland.
Kokoda Property Group agreed to pay $100 million for a 6085sq m site in the area earlier this year and Dexus has also been greenlit for a $324-million redevelopment of an ageing office building into a 27-storey, 402-unit project.
