This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
THE local shopping village of Melbourne’s well-heeled is in for a major overhaul after a second site was purchased for a $100 million apartment development that will rise opposite a new commercial project.
Melbourne-based developer Orchard Piper bought the amalgamated site at 424-426 Toorak Road and 109 Mathoura Road in Toorak for about $20 million, after two years of quietly working closely with two vendors, the Butler and Mendleson families, who have held the properties for over 40 years.
The deal was put together off-market over the course of two years. Six individual properties from multiple landowners, including laneway rights, were put together to create a circa 1,000 sqm parcel. The acquisition also marks the first time the sites have transacted in over 40 years.
Across the road is Vicland Property Group’s $600 million redevelopment of Village Way, which will house about 12,000 sqm of office space and a ground floor Coles supermarket. Bill McNee’s Vicland bought the 489-505 Toorak Road site in 2019 for $80 million.
Orchard Piper plans to transform its site into a seven-level luxury mixed-use project that capitalises on the 50-metre Mathoura Road frontage with high-end retail and commercial spaces fronting Toorak Road.
Leasing is largely pre-committed, and the developer has confirmed a long-term lease agreement with the existing chemist tenant, known as C. Wallis & Son Est. 1870 in Toorak Village, to re-occupy the building once complete, allowing it to remain in the prominent location it has held since 1981.
Orchard Piper’s newest project takes its pipeline to more than $750 million. It has inked three deals in the last 12 months, including a 1,200 sqm amalgamated site at 364-370 Albert Street in East Melbourne, one of the last developable parcels of land fronting Fitzroy Gardens for which it received a planning permit in late March.
The developer will retain the retail and commercial component of the Toorak building, with the top commercial floors becoming the new Orchard Piper headquarters and permanent base in Toorak Village.
It confirmed it is already in discussions with potential buyers for the penthouse and sub-penthouse product.
“We have spent the better part of the last decade delivering highly detailed projects to the luxury market throughout Stonnington, and people now recognise the Orchard Piper brand for its consistent, design-led outcomes,” Orchard Piper co-founder and director Luke McKie said.
“We are already working closely with our known networks to customise some of the floorplans, and such is the demand and scarcity of product at this end of the market, we expect the residential component will be largely pre-committed to our existing VIPs and customers prior to launching publicly next year.”
Orchard Piper is set to submit plans to council in the coming months, with construction earmarked to commence in the second half of 2022.
