City views and group facilities shine at Arden

Top-tier residents at soon-to-be-constructed Arden Gardens will have front-row seats to Melbourne’s magnificent city views by day and night.

From the very top, at level 16, the skyline stretches from Port Phillip Bay across to the Eureka Tower and back to the immediate surrounds of North Melbourne.

Architects Buchan Group have wisely taken full advantage of the views, creating a roof deck where residents can take it all in.

The communal spaces are what really sets this massive precinct apart from the rest. As well as the roof decks, Buchan architects have also built a public space or plaza into the design, called Arden Retreat. Here, residents can mingle among landscaped gardens.

Then there are the two cinemas where groups can relax in their own movie room and a club, which includes a kitchenette, games room and outdoor playing space.

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At ground level, a Woolworths supermarket means there’s not far to go when it comes to the duck-in, duck-out bread and milk run. There’s also a gym and bike storage.

Above all, is the prime location Arden Gardens occupies on Macaulay Road, says Buchan principal Peter Lourey.

“The site offers an excellent opportunity to provide a large-scale, mixed-use development given the strategic context of the site, the absence of immediately abutting sensitive interfaces, generous frontages to three seats, and the excellent transport and road connections,” he says.

Arden Gardens is made up of two residential towers – one at 10 storeys and another at 16. The development, which will house office space along with retail and residential, has been designed in a triangular configuration to benefit from the north-facing sun.

The CBD is just 3.5 kilometres away and there is easy access by public transport. Macaulay train station is an easy 350-metre walk and the Canning Street tram station only 550 metres away.

AT A GLANCE

• Arden Gardens, 168 Macaulay Road, North Melbourne
• Architect: The Buchan Group
• Developer: CBD Development
• Number of apartments: 299: 49 one bedroom; 148 two bedroom; 86 three bedrooms; four bedrooms
• Internal sizes (in square metres): One bedroom 45-61, two bedroom 66-117, three bedroom 82-171, four bedroom 116-190
• External areas: 6-150 square metres
• Prices: One-bedroom $365,000-$500,000; two-bedroom $588,000-$898,000; three-bedroom $710,000-$1.6 million, four-bedroom $1.065 million-$1.92million
• Car parking: Two-bedrooms have one car space, three-bedrooms have one or two car spaces and four-bedrooms have two car spaces
• Completion: Stage 1 (podium) – mid 2018, stage 2 (towers) – end of 2018
• Agent: CBRE, Andrew Leoncelli 1300 888 770
• Open for inspection: On-site display suite open Tue-Sun noon-4pm

Search switch pays off

Melanie Armet, 24, almost squeals with delight when she talks about her first home purchase.

“Oh my God, I’m so excited!” she says.

Armet and partner Oscar Guerra bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment at Ardens Gardens after an eight-month search for the perfect place. Originally they were looking at houses in West Preston and Coburg, but found their hard-earned could go further with an apartment.

“The housing we would have got for a very similar price was probably going to need a couple of hundred thousand to be something we would love,” Armet says.

“We’re not in the position to spend that at the moment, so we thought let’s get our foot in the door and get an apartment.

“So we spent some time signing up to every builder and developer who was on our radar and keeping an eye out for all the emails – checking out the different blocks and apartments, and what was on offer and price ranges.”

Communal facilities at Arden Gardens, particularly the dining room, appealed to the young couple as an option for when family comes to dinner. They were also impressed by the Woolworths directly underneath the development.

“The overall building amenities were what probably sold us,” Armet says.