- The hotel was last transacted some 55 years ago
- The site will become home to a $120M ultra-luxury development
- The project will include apartments and townhouses
The former Savoy Hotel, located adjacent to Melbourne’s famous Brighton Beach, has been acquired by Melbourne-based developer, Primeland.
Located at 150 Esplanade, the property hit the market earlier this year – the first time in over half a century it has been on the market.
The 3,393 square metre hotel comprises 60 rooms, an events facility, and a two-level basement car park for 80 cars.
The property was taken to the market via a private sale campaign run by Stephen Kelly, James Thorpe and Langton McHarg of Knight Frank.
$120M ultra-luxury development
Primeland has announced plans to transform the Savoy Hotel site into an ultra-luxurious apartment and townhouse project, to comprise two and three-bedroom penthouse-size residences with unobstructed views across the bay from all three levels, a private rooftop garden for the penthouses, and a separate collection of townhouses to the rear of the site.
The project is targeted at high-net-worth locals within the Bayside community; residences will be priced between $5 million and $20 million and penthouses are expected to be circa 600 square metres in size.
Over a century of history
A private residence in 1909, the property was transformed into the Savoy Hotel in 1959.
The Lee family acquired the property in 1967, retaining ownership for 55 years until the Primeland acquisition.
Brighton Beach is famed for its Brighton Beach Boxes, which fetch between $300,000 and $400,000 when sold at auction but are typically kept within families for generations.
A $1 billion pipeline
The latest acquisition comes as the developer adds hotels, mixed-use, residential, and community-based infrastructure developments to its established industrial portfolio, taking the pipeline to a combined over $1 billion end value.
Other recent acquisitions include a boutique hotel/hospitality development to be designed by Cera Stribley, and a joint venture residential project with Pelligra – both in East Melbourne – where multidisciplinary design practice Carr is currently designing 14 ultra-luxury residences for the high-end market.
The acquisitions come off the back of the developer’s strategic re-weighting into luxury residential assets to complement its existing portfolio, and has recently reached completion across a project in Brighton designed by Christopher Doyle.
Primeland chairman Robert Brij said the acquisition of the Savoy Hotel underpinned the developer’s strategic focus on the ultra-luxury residential sector.
“This site is a prime jewel in the crown of Brighton; the fact that it has only transacted once in 55 years underpins its rarity and location overlooking the bay.
“The vision for this project is to create a luxury experience that is befitting of this superior address, that will stand as a landmark for not only Brighton but all of Melbourne.
“The last few years have seen significant growth in our portfolio and capabilities as we focus on building a mixed-use pipeline across Australia in the hotel, industrial and residential sectors.
“We are particularly interested in Melbourne’s ultra-high-end of the luxury residential market, we think there is considerable opportunity and we are confident in the continued demand for ultra-high-end assets noting that this end of the market is largely unaffected by macro-economic factors or interest rate rises.
“The Savoy is the type of development site that will allow us to create something that will honour its location along one of Australia’s most famed Esplanades; we are excited to appoint a leading architect that shares this vision in the coming months and progress to the planning stage with council in due course,” said Brij.
Primeland also boasts an established portfolio of multiple industrial assets in Melbourne, New South Wales and South Australia, including the former GMH (Holden) manufacturing plant at Elizabeth in Adelaide – which will be a joint venture project with Pelligra.
