$15m luxury apartment project to be built above shops
MELBOURNE: A shop-top apartment project is being aimed at the burgeoning downsizers market says the developer.
Hutt’s St’s revival as an emerging residential hub is gathering pace with developers unveiling plans for a new $15m luxury apartment project on the strip.
Located next to the Latteria restaurant bar, between Carrington and Halifax streets, the four-storey development will feature eight apartments ranging in price from $965,000 to $3.5m, and a shopfront on the ground floor.
Construction is expected to commence later this year and take around 12 months to complete.
Kosta Koutsonas, a director at structural steel and engineering firm Samaras Group, is developing the project privately with local business partner John Tsianos.
Mr Koutsonas said the small number of apartments within the building was likely to appeal to downsizers.
“If you want to live in a luxury apartment, the choice is usually a building with so many neighbours. This is something different, something special,” he said.
“Residents will have seven neighbours in the whole building. No corridors, no lift queues, no lobby full of people you will never meet. That is the difference and something downsizers want.
“There is real demand for modern city living at this scale and almost nothing being built to meet it.”
The project, known as ‘London’ – inspired by the London Plane trees that line Hutt St – replaces the former Acacia Arts studio which has been demolished to make way for construction.
Architect Enzo Caroscio from Enzo Caroscio Architecture said the width of the homes would be a point of difference to other apartments in the city.
“Fourteen-metre frontages for each apartment onto Hutt St is something so rare,” he said.
“Width gives you things buyers feel but can rarely name. Light in the middle of the home, real separation between living and sleeping, outdoor spaces that work and views across the hills and city.”
The developers said several groups had already expressed interest in operating the ground floor tenancy, including wellness operators and small wine bar and hospitality operators.
London is the latest in a string of new apartment projects completed or earmarked for Hutt St, including Fortis and Otello’s $90m proposal for a former Caltex petrol station site and a recently completed six-storey affordable housing project delivered by the SA Housing Trust.