Luxury apartment developer, GURNER™ continues to take Australia’s apartment market by storm, with its latest project, a $140million luxury development in West Melbourne, commencing construction just 16 weeks after launching to the market.
GURNER™ launched the project, known as Ikebana, to its VIP database in December and by January the development had sold out “at a rate faster than we had ever witnessed before,” said GURNER™ founder and director, Tim Gurner.
After the project’s unprecedented sell-out success, Hamilton Marino was appointed to construct the development in February and works have already commenced on site this March with demolition now complete.
The original program had projected the project’s sales targets would be reached by June with construction commencing in late September 2015.
The project is being financed by NAB as the senior financier on the $85million package, in a deal facilitated by Maxcap Group.
“ NAB has been a big supporter of our previous West Melbourne projects and have recently financed our ‘Alessi’ project located only 100m from Ikebana and many other key Melbourne projects.
“ Based on the success of Alessi, NAB was keen to partner with us again to deliver our latest West Melbourne project in collaboration with MaxCap, who facilitated the deal, so we are delighted to be fostering and continue our strong relationships with these important collaborators,” Gurner said.
MaxCap Group is one of Australia’s most prominent investment specialists which manages investments for a number of major institutional funds.
“ As the lead company responsible for providing the full debt solution, MaxCap is thrilled to see GURNER™’s vision for Ikebana now come to reality,” said MaxCap Group managing director, Wayne Lasky.
Comprising 241 apartments, Ikebana represents one of the developer’s most audacious designs to-date with the Japanese-inspired project designed by Elenberg Fraser.
Inspired by its namesake ancient art of flower arranging, Ikebana features ‘hand-torn’ concrete sheets that adorn the building’s façade, a Japanese Zen garden and luxurious VIP health, spa and private dining retreats for the exclusive use of residents.
Tim Gurner suggested the project’s enviable location at the gateway to the CBD and Docklands, coupled with its unique Japanese aesthetic and dedication to luxury amenity, were some of the key factors that had attracted purchasers to the project.
“ West Melbourne has always traditionally been a high-performing location for us with our four other developments in the area all selling out relatively quickly, however the recent sell out success of Ikebana has completely blown us away.
“ Moving from a sales launch to sell-out success in just six weeks, to then commence construction all within a 16 week period is just unheard of for Melbourne’s market,” he said.
Construction on the project is slated to take approximately 19 months, with settlement anticipated in September 2016.
“ Due to the excellent returns and rental yields garnered from our West Melbourne projects, we have seen many of our clients reinvest into every single development we have taken to market in West Melbourne and would do so again 10 times over – we struggle to keep up with the demand.
“ Almost all of the project’s sales have come from local Australian buyers, which suggests that our apartment market is well and truly alive and breathing.
“ There is always talk that Melbourne’s apartment market is potentially over supplied however the success of this project just proves that high-end apartment projects with the right apartment mix, in the right location that are close to existing amenity and infrastructure, will continue to draw demand at an insatiable rate.
“ It is not easy out there as buyers have become extremely astute, however the sell-out success of Ikebana reflects that if you do get each element right the market is very strong and I believe this will continue for a long time to come,” Gurner said.
Gurner has experienced similar success in Brisbane after his iconic Fortitude Valley project, FV sold 630 apartments of 651 totaling over $300million in just 12 weeks.
Located at 130 Dudley Street, Ikebana is GURNER’s first of at least six new developments to launch to the marketplace in 2015, with the developer gearing up to launch projects in various suburbs of Melbourne and Brisbane in the coming months.