Ceapal lists permit-approved Macaulay Walk site 

Six months after the plans for Macaulay Walk were approved, the developer, Ceapal, has listed the property on the market. 

The shovel-ready site is located at 218-246 Macaulay Road in North Melbourne and includes a permit for a six-storey building fronting Macaulay Road, and two adjacent 12-storey structures. 

Under the plans, designed by Australia-wide architectural firm Rothelowman, the 394-dwelling development would comprise a mixture of apartments ranging in size from studios to three bedrooms, as well as ground-floor retail, and a supermarket.

Ceapal won approval in June this year for Macaulay Walk, however the developer lodged an application with the Victorian Department of Transport and Planning two months later, seeking to reduce the project’s affordable housing component from six per cent to three per cent. 

It is understood that a decision on the affordable housing amendment is yet to be made and that the project remains in the assessment phase, despite the site being on the market. 

The commercial real estate agency listing the site, LAWD, expects that the property will sell for more than $45 million. 

LAWD development director, Lukas Byrns, said that they anticipate extremely strong interest from apartment developers and build-to-rent groups with global institutional capital who will value the recently received, and carefully curated, permit approval.

“It is an opportune time to secure an outstanding permit-approved project, which will deliver product in a market where the demand for rental properties continues to increase due to a severe undersupply of housing,” he said.

“We are simply not building enough dwellings to house both the existing and growing population, and quality sites like this are extremely rare.”

Property advisory firm Charter Keck Cramer’s national executive director, Richard Temlett, said this trend is anticipated to continue for at least the next three to four years.

“Sites in A-grade locations and which have been derisked from a planning perspective are likely to be very attractive to investors and developers as they will be able to be activated the fastest as the market continues to recalibrate,” Mr Temlett said.

“Notwithstanding the short-term uncertainty, the industry needs to prepare for the commencement of a very strong and long cycle,” he said. 

“This means having a pipeline of sites ready to activate as well as strong relationships or arrangements with builders to build out these projects.” •