With the anticipated opening of the Melbourne Metro Tunnel project in 2025, property owners are experiencing amplified engagement on assets within the station precincts per Colliers Melbourne City Sales.
Colliers Melbourne City Sales have recently launched to market two assets that bookend the project via Expressions of Interest at 142-146 Leicester Street, Carlton (325m to Parkville Station) and 40-48 Park Street, South Melbourne (225m to ANZAC Station).
Nick Garoni, Ryan Milivojac, Matt Stagg and Yvonne Zhou, who are appointed on the assets from Colliers, offered insight into the precincts, tying the increased infrastructure and connectivity to a wave of higher-density development.
The $11 billion Metro Tunnel project, part of Victoria’s Big Build, will deliver 5 new stations in the city fringe and CBD: ANZAC Station, Town Hall Station, State Library Station, Parkville Station, and Arden Station.
The project strategically connects suburbs to the north and south and will provide more direct travel between the Botanic Gardens precinct, the CBD, Melbourne’s core education and healthcare precinct, and the Arden Urban Renewal precinct.
Nick Garoni, Senior Executive at Colliers Melbourne City Sales said, “South Melbourne’s ANZAC Station precinct ties the Gardens precinct, St Kilda Road’s more traditional office market and higher density residential Southbank into a mixed-use hub that appeals to the population’s increasing desire to work, live and play all within a smaller geographical area”.
“Despite groups reviewing Park Street for a variety of different outcomes (office, residential, BTR, and education), there is a consistency around all groups taking confidence in the location’s growth characteristics and future direction”, Mr Garoni added.
On the northern end of the CBD, the Parkville corridor continues its growth built on the fundamentals of innovation and education.
Colliers Manager Melbourne City Sales, Ryan Milivojac, added “The strategic plan for the Parkville Train Station environs is that of building upon the existing medical and education foundations – Royal Melbourne Hospital and The University of Melbourne – that have been staples of the suburb for well over 150 years. This foundation has allowed for more modern practices such as speciality biomedical and research centres, and complementary education offerings such as student accommodation, to aid in the continued evolution of the precinct.”
Following on from the Metro Tunnel Completion, the Victoria Government are planning for the Melbourne Airport Rail link which will in time connect these 5 new stations directly to the Melbourne Airport.
Yvonne Zhou, Manager of Colliers Asia Markets, said properties around the station were being specifically targeted from offshore capital.
“Investors that hail from countries with significantly advanced rail transport networks, such as Singapore and Japan, look beyond the present-day for opportunities to secure assets that, in the next 10-15 years, will be enhanced with leading rail infrastructure and directly connected to the Melbourne Airport”, Ms Zhou added.
Matt Stagg, Head of Investment Services Victoria at Colliers, said that recent office investment transactions in the CBD along Flinders Street in the last few years such as Victoria University at 300 Flinders Street, Yooralla at 244 Flinders Street, and China Southern Airlines HQ at 342 Flinders Street, were all purchased with the uplift from Town Hall Station in mind.
“The opening of the Metro Tunnel Station is not just providing growth to the city fringe but is also providing a vital reinjection of investment and activity into the CBD grid around Town Hall and the State Library”, Mr Stagg concluded.
