A “shovel-ready” development site at 596 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, has hit the market, three years after last changing hands. Developer Everland Global, led by co-founders Tim Chang and Michael Xie, paid a record $34 million for the site in 2017 when it was purchased from Singapore-listed construction and property company Lian Beng Group. Lian Beng Group had secured the inner-Melbourne St Kilda Road site only two years prior for $25 million, in 2015. The freehold site, with frontage to Queens Lane and St Kilda Road, has development approval for a luxury 19-storey development. The Bates Smart-designed plans comprise 101 residences, 162 car parks, and span 11,670sq m of net area. Colliers International’s Daniel Wolman, Leon Ma, Oliver Hay, Trent Hobart and Jozef Dickinson are managing the expressions-of-interest campaign for the asset, which Hobart says could cater to the owner-occupier market. “[This] includes the affluent city-dwelling professionals, as well as the downsizing owner occupier market,” he said. Amid the Covid-19 environment, Wolman said the popular St Kilda Road precinct had retained buyer attraction in the office and residential accommodation sectors. Earlier this month, a local syndicate picked up a CBD fringe office building at 71-73 Palmerston Crescent South Melbourne for $14 million. In May, Flight Centre offloaded its 436 St Kilda Road headquarters for $62.15 million to the property arm of Prime Value Asset Management, Shakespeare Property Group. And nearby, Jewish Care launched its 4,293sq m South Boulevard site to market last month, on the corner of Punt Road and Raleigh Street. The site is being sold with vacant possession, and is occupied by a four-storey aged care facility and adjoining car park.
