New homes: The Yarra end of Collins Street

Lend Lease’s latest apartment project at Docklands offers buyers two prestigious perks: a waterfront location with a Collins Street address.

The two neighbouring projects at the end of Collins Street that curves into Docklands  each have two towers rising 24 and 30 levels.

The 883 and 889 Collins Street projects are part of Lend Lease’s $4.5 billion Victoria Harbour precinct conceived in 2001 that will eventually house 30,000 residents.

Despite increased rumblings about an apartment oversupply in Melbourne, the latest projects have had huge market success, with 70 per cent of the one to three-bedroom apartments sold provisionally by the time Planning Minister Richard Wynne had approved the project.

“It’s an interesting time for Victoria Harbour because we are on the cusp of completing a number of residential buildings that will really increase the domestic population there and really enhance the place,”  Ben Christie, Lend Lease’s head of apartments, says.

“The location being situated on Collins Street but also directly on the Yarra River is quite unique, not just from a Victoria Harbour point of view but from a wider Melbourne point of view and it is that location that has inspired the design of the building,” he says.

That river-inspired design is the work of acclaimed Sydney-based architect Koichi Takada​, making his first foray into the Melbourne market. His northern projects include Sydney by Crown, Skye by Crown and One Central Park.

Extensive communal facilities across the two buildings will be available to residents including private dining rooms, a games and billiard room, gym, pool, spa, yoga room and smaller “pocket” lounges for residents spread throughout the development.

Lend Lease says the development has drawn a mix of local buyers including down-sizers, young families, young professionals and investors, with foreign buyers accounting for 30 per cent of purchases.

Across the two buildings, there are 421 one-bedroom, 587 two-bedroom and 56 three-bedroom apartments. About 20 per cent remain for sale, with an expected completion date of late 2017.

One-bedroomapartments are selling for $404,000 to $655,000 with internal size ranges of 45 to 59 square metres and an average balcony size of six square metres.

Two-bedroom apartments are priced at $605,000 to $990,000 with internal space of 62 to 87 square metres, balconies averaging nine square metres and a single car space.

At the top of the buildings, the three-bedroom apartments have prices ranging from $1,025,000 to $1,695,000 with internal sizes from 89 to 128 square metres, outdoor areas averaging 25 square metres and two car spaces.

Floorplans can be viewed at Lend Lease’s sales centre at 791 Bourke Street, Victoria Harbour, phone 8610 4800.

Docklands proud

Kerry Anne Sullivan and her husband farewelled the leafy streets of Kew for a three-bedroom waterfront apartment in Lend Lease’s Convesso building at Docklands three years ago and have never looked back.

“Right from the get-go, there was no having to get used to apartment living as the whole set-up was just fabulous and it was just move in and enjoy life,” the 66-year-old says.

“We’ve got fantastic shopping, wonderful restaurants, fantastic transport and everything at our doorstep but if you are in a suburb somewhere, you’ve got to drive.”

Sullivan believes critics of Docklands must have never lived there. There is a great sense of community, with neighbours meeting up for dinner parties, she says.

“In Kew, it was very much a society of living behind the walls of your house and nobody says hello but here you get in the lift and have a chat with someone,” she says. “It’s gorgeous and I love it.”