Spencer Street, West Melbourne residential site offering with art deco facade

Spencer Street, West Melbourne residential site offering with art deco facade
Jonathan ChancellorDecember 7, 2020

The much-offered, much altered 420 Spencer Street residential development project site, on the western gateway to Melbourne’s CBD, has been relisted for sale.

The West Melbourne offering now comes with approval for a 438 unit, 38 level tower designed by Fender Katsalidis Mirams.

It was one of the development sites given approval for tall residential towers by Planning Minister Matthew Guy in the so-called "Super Tuesday" announcement in February.

The project incorporates the art deco facade of the existing 1930s-era building, on Dudley Street, the former showrooms for Australian Glass Manufacturers.

Colliers International’s Matt Stagg and Daniel Wolman anticipate a price of $35 million plus. Offers are due August 28.

It is a 2,250 square metre property was last in the news in 2011, when the Planning Minister, Matthew Guy, approved the tower within an area that was quickly becoming a residential development hotspot.

Constructed in 1930 as the headquarters showroom for Australian Glass Manufacturers, 420 Bruce Henderson Architects was recognised by the National Trust for its then-modern design.

Back in 2003 then planning minister Mary Delahunty approved the building's demolition, to be replaced by a 26-level Fender Katsalidis tower. That tower would have risen 83 metres, three times council-supported height, and was another not to proceed.

The site last sold at $3.15 million in 2003 when bought by a company associated with Paul McBain.

Jonathan Chancellor

Jonathan Chancellor is one of Australia's most respected property journalists, having been at the top of the game since the early 1980s. Jonathan co-founded the property industry website Property Observer and has written for national and international publications.

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