PDG in fresh deal with Melbourne city hall
PDG Corporation has struck a deal with the City of Melbourne to take over an inner-city site to develop housing, a hotel and community space in a $200 million project.
It is the second such project the busy private developer, led by Vince Giuliano, has forged with the Town Hall over council-controlled land, with a $450 million apartment and hotel project already under way opposite Queen Victoria Market in the CBD.
The latest agreement involves land around a former girls’ school site in Kavanagh Street in Southbank, just outside the CBD. PDG will pay $16.5 million for the site and will deliver 1000 square metres of community space.
The site will also accommodate a 32-storey tower, home the community space as well as an 80-room hotel, 176 apartments and 40 affordable housing units, along with commercial and retail space.
“We’ve negotiated a fantastic outcome to deliver community facilities and affordable housing at the Boyd site,” said lord mayor Sally Capp.
“Offering more affordable housing is one of the most important priorities for our city. The development will feature a vibrant streetscape that links together key public spaces, including the new Boyd neighbourhood park.”
Like the project under way on the Munro site opposite the city’s open-air market, PDG is also entertaining the prospect that the emerging build-to-rent asset class could be included in the Boyd development.
“It’s not often you get an opportunity to develop in a location like this,” Mr Giuliano said.
“There are no adjoining high-rise buildings and an abundance of green open space, making it prime for a community atmosphere of residential and commercial spaces.”
PDG has already squared away most of the risk on its earlier project opposite the market where construction is just getting under way after striking a deal with Mirvac last month to turn over the completed apartments into a build-to-rent platform.
Mirvac will acquire 490 completed units in a $333.5 million agreement from the Munro development where PDG has approval for a project comprising two towers of 38 and 10 storeys.
At the same time, under PDG’s existing agreement with city hall the Munro site project will also deliver 54 affordable housing units, a 120-place childcare facility, family and children’s services centre, and a community centre.
