Mirvac buying strategic site in hip Melbourne suburb of Brunswick

A final purchase price won’t be disclosed until the transaction settles. Mirvac declined to comment about the deal, or about speculation that it might also be behind the purchase of the neighbouring factory, on 2323 square metres, which would add more than $8 million to its outlay.
The 7000-square-metre site that Mirvac is buying in Albert Street. Photo: Supplied

At present the Mirvac site, industrial properties near to it, and four dwellings – in total covering 1.7 hectares – are the subject of a rezoning application which, if approved, would allow for the construction of apartment buildings up to eight levels high.

Approved by Planning Panels Victoria on November 29, the application will now be reviewed by the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning. Any formal gazetting will come after the government department makes its final decision.

These properties arguably occupy the greenest part of Brunswick, a suburb renowned for its side-by-side terraces in tight, congested streets, also dotted with factories.

Clifton Park, Brunswick Park and Reaburn Reserve are adjacent the property to the north (the C-shaped Clifton Park extends to the east of the site, too).

Any multi-storey redevelopment of the land would capture postcard city views over Gilpin Park, across the road, to the south.

The Brunswick train station and Sydney Road retail strip, with its tram network, are less than a kilometre away.

The low-rise suburban pocket is also a short distance to Moonee Ponds, a major retail and activity centre currently undergoing a high-rise building boom.

Mirvac declined to comment about the Brunswick transaction until it was finalised.

There is industry speculation that the Sydney-based developer could also be behind the purchase of the neighbouring factory at 395 Albert Street, which hit the market last year and is now “under offer”. That 2323-square-metre site was expected to sell for more than $8 million, sources said.

The Planning Panels Victoria ”planning scheme amendment” proposes rezoning the addresses 395-429 Albert Street.

Nearby at 288 Albert Street, the CBD Development Group has recently started construction of what will be Brunswick’s tallest apartment building, at 12 levels.

The Commons, a controversial apartment complex with no car parks, and the first of the Nightingale series of environmentally friendly projects, was unveiled in 2015 in the suburb.

Last year the owner of a large retail store on Sydney Road announced a plan to build another Nightingale complex which will include 20 apartments over shops.