Central Equity, Melbourne's biggest apartment developer, is back in the apartment business less than 18 months after leaving the sector because of poor sales.
The then publicly listed Central Equity quit apartments in late 2005 as the inner Melbourne market crumbled in a slump described by chairman Eddie Kutner as likely to continue until the end of the decade. Delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange midway through last year, Central Equity retreated to the suburbs in an attempt to reinvent itself as a residential estate builder.
But with Melbourne's once oversupplied apartment market making a dramatic - and unexpected - turnaround earlier this year, the developer has returned to its old Southbank stomping ground with plans for a 36-storey tower that will cost around $50 million to build and include six levels of office space.
Melbourne's apartment recovery was confirmed last month in Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing that 1079 apartments were approved in February this year, more than double the 535 approved in the same time last year.
Located at the corner of City Road and Power streets, the planned 317-apartment complex will be known as Vue Grand.
After only three weeks of selling, and with a display suite on the site still under construction, Central Equity is understood to have found buyers for more than 50 apartments.
Some two-bedroom apartments in the mid-levels of the tower have asking prices of more than $800,000, while five penthouses are on the sale block for between $1.5 million and $2.5 million.
The building will also provide new offices for Central Equity.
It intends to occupy all six levels of office space, vacating leased offices at 95 Queen Street. The now privatised Central Equity group, controlled by Mr Kutner and joint managing directors John Bourke and Dennis Wilson, singlehandedly created Melbourne's largest apartment precinct in Southbank, building dozens of towers worth over $2.5 billion since the mid-1990s.
Central Equity could not be contacted yesterday but is understood to be planning to start work on Vue Grand by the end of the year. It is expected to be finished by late 2009.Source: The Australian
