Developer Completes Project in Tight Inner North Market

Melbourne-based developer Sedmap Investment has completed construction of its boutique apartment project in Brunswick in the city’s inner north.

The private developer’s five-storey, mixed-use project fronting Lygon and Albert streets comprises 30 apartments, ground-floor retail and a single level of basement parking. 

Sedmap Investments, headed by former professional soccer player and coach Michael Chatzitrifonos and the Katris family, picked up the 3300sq m corner site at 267 Lygon Street in an off-market transaction.

The development, The Finery, which has been co-funded by non-bank lender Banner Asset Management, has been targeted at owner-occupiers, offering two and three-bedroom apartments. The development also features a large communal rooftop, social breakout spaces and a hotel-style lobby.

Banner Asset Management chief lending officer Nicholas Lakin said the completed project was the result of a high-quality design team led by local architecture firm ​​Shouman and constructed by Lurada Property Group.

“Demand for premium inner-city residences is on the rise in Melbourne,” Lakin said.

“This project fits seamlessly into the local neighbourhood, providing residents with access to some of the city’s best food, entertainment, shopping, and cultural offerings.”

Lakin said most of the apartments with the project had been largely pre-sold, with prices starting from $587,000.

▲ The Finery has been built in Brunswick East’s old fabric and textiles village. Image: Shouman Architects

Also in the street, between 251 and 265 Lygon Street, fellow Melbourne-based developer Pace has recently put forward plans to Moreland City Council for a $100-million apartment project of its own.

Pace’s eight-storey, mixed-use project will offer 110 apartments, ground-floor retail and two levels of basement parking. 

Developers Neometro and Milieu, backed by finance house MaxCap, have also delivered a $45-million mixed-use building in a multi-stage development within the Jewell Station precinct.

The eight-storey building, designed by Fieldwork and DesignOffice and dubbed One Wilson Ave, includes 41 residential apartments, six flexible work-live studios and more than 900sq m of retail and strata office space.

Melbourne’s apartment market is currently undergoing cyclical and structural changes that will support the next cycle of build-to-sell apartment projects as well as the emergence of the nascent build-to-rent sector.

These include consumer acceptance of living in apartments, increased detached dwelling affordability constraints, record median house-to-apartment price gap and the market’s adoption of long-term renting options.

There were elevated levels of apartment completions in 2020 and 2021, which was a legacy of the previous investor-driven cycle, and that is unlikely to be repeated.

Few apartment projects launched during the past two years due to weak occupier demand amid market uncertainty. Projects that were launched and met with the greatest acceptance were smaller, owner-occupier-focused apartment developments.

The outlook suggests a shortage of rental apartments as tenant demand returns, with population growth predicted from 2023 onwards.

Residential rents surged to record levels in the past 12 months in Melbourne jumping more 30 per cent as strong demand outpaces dwindling supply with the suburb of Brunswick increasingly tight—with a vacancy rate of just 2 per cent.