Four Months On, Above Zero Lists Approved Camberwell Site

Potential buyer interest has prompted developer Above Zero to put its Camberwell project to market just months after securing approval.

The City of Boroondara approved the permit for a 12-storey mixed-use tower at 697 and 699 Burke Road, in the suburb 10km east of the CBD, in June of this year.

The plans for tower dubbed Camberwell House included 36 apartments with five floors set aside for office space and 796sq m of retail on the ground floor. 

The 699 Burke Road site has proven hard to develop with several failed attempts before Above Zero acquiring the site in 2022, among them developer Royal Fund who had proposed a 12-storey residential tower with 53 apartments called Bijou in May, 2023. 

Above Zero filed plans for the site in March, 2024 incorporating modifications that included dropping the 13th floor and increasing carparking spaces and addressing visibility concerns. 

The Cera Stribley-designed project is in the middle of Camberwell Junction on a 1950sq m sit within the Camberwell Activity Centre, which includes more than 400 stores and 300 commercial businesses.

JLL’s Jesse Radisich, Josh Rutman, MingXuan Li and Maddie Pizzey have been appointed to sell the site for Above Zero. 

▲ The Cera Stribley-designed plans for Above Zero’s Camberwell House project.

The site is next to the Aerial apartments in the City of Boroondara’s tallest building. 

“It is very difficult to find a site that offers planning approval for a project of such significant scale as Burke Road but also provides scope for developers to achieve very high sales rates and or rents,” Radisich said.

Interest from potential buyers sparked the decision to list the site, a spokesperson for Above Zero told The Urban Developer.

“After a lengthy and challenging process of site amalgamation and securing an exceptional planning approval, we were approached off-market by several larger groups,” they said.

“Given the feedback that nothing of this scale or quality has emerged in this highly sought-after, tightly held suburb with limited approvals, we believe this presents a truly unique opportunity that larger groups are likely to compete for.”

A five-storey office building and single-storey retail building now occupy the site. 

The expressions-of-interest campaign for the site are due to close on November 12, 2024.