Luxury Car Dealer, Developer Greenlit for Melbourne BtR

Melbourne’s Zagame business family and privately owned local property developer PDG Corporation have won approval for 287 build-to-rent apartments in the city’s inner west.

The DKO-designed three buildings of three to six storeys will sit on a 5525sq m site at 559-577 King Street, West Melbourne.

To be known as Roden and King, the mixed-use development—with an end-value of about $95 million—will include more than 2100sq m of indoor and outdoor shared amenities, made up of co-working spaces, a gymnasium, and rooftop dining.

About 1300sq m will be given over to ground-floor retail.

The build-to-rent element will feature 37 studio apartments, 135 one, 109 two and six three-bedroom apartments. Six per cent will be dedicated to affordable housing. A basement level will allow for parking for 100 vehicles and 156 bicycles.

An Audi dealership and service centre currently on the site will be demolished to make way for the project.

Melbourne City Council’s Future Melbourne Committee first lent support to the developer’s application in October last year.

In the past 18 months the council has pushed development in West Melbourne, saying the population had more than doubled in the 10 years to 2021 to 8000 residents. It is expected to double again in the next 15 years.

More than 34,000 jobs are forecast to be created over the next 15 to 30 years in the adjacent Arden Urban Renewal Precinct—an area of about 45ha, largely industrial lots, in North Melbourne.

▲ The DKO-designed three buildings of three to six storeys will sit on a 5525sq m site in King Street, West Melbourne.

In announcing the approval, DKO architects said the proposal addressed the need “for post-industrial sites to have a new life and appropriate use to suit the changing needs of the city.”

DKO director and principal architect Raymond Mah said West Melbourne’s urban fabric was a captivating blend of small terrace lots and larger industrial plots.

“This design proposal introduces a new pedestrian link across the large site in the form of a landscaped courtyard,” he said, “…(which) acts as the front door to new commercial tenancies, communal areas and residential lobbies.” 

The Zagame group is best known for its exclusive dealership rights over luxury car brands such as Aston Martin, Bentley, Ferrari, McLaren, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce and Pagani.

However, the family’s investments also take in pubs, hotels, restaurants and property development.

PDG is a 30-year-old privately-owned, Melbourne-based commercial and residential builder and property developer.

DKO and PDG recently completed Gadsden—a medium-density build-to-rent project currently under construction at Southbank on the former site of the JH Boyd Girls’ High School.