400 Johnston Street, Abbotsford

400 Johnston Street, Abbotsford

Rezone: 400 Johnston St Abbotsford – 54 Apts, 5,005 SQM of NSA, Amendment C220 – Purchased as C2, Rezoned & Divested.

Site Background

Located in Abbotsford, some two kilometres north-east of the Melbourne CBD, 400 Johnston is an 816 sqm site located on the north side of Johnston Street, approximately 470m east of the intersection of Hoddle Street and Johnston Street and within walking distance to the Victoria Park railway station (400m to the west) and the Yarra River (460m to the east).

Improved on the site is a single level, motor repair workshop with a frontage to Johnston Street and rear access via Little Turner Street.

The site was purchased in November 2017 being leased at the time of the acquisition.

Planning

Yarra City Council identified the site and surrounding area for future urban renewal as part of the Johnston Street Local Area Plan (JSLAP). The JSLAP was adopted by Yarra City Council in December 2015 and remains the land use and development strategy for the precinct.

The Johnston Street Local Area Plan is used to manage and guide change for the Johnston Street Activity Centre and provides the basis for planning scheme amendments such as Amendment C220. The Plan provides focus and direction on matters such as changes in land-use and activity, physical changes to streets and public areas, design and scale of buildings, transport and sustainability.

JSLAP earmarked the site and surrounding area as a mixed use neighbourhood centre with maximum heights up to 7 storeys (23m). JSLAP proposed to rezone existing Commercial 2 Zone land in this area to ‘an appropriate zone that facilitates upper level residential uses and encourages retail opportunities that activate the street’.

Council drafted a planning scheme amendment (C220) to implement JSLAP into the planning scheme and the amendment was gazzeted on Thursday 18 June 2020.

Yield

As per the schematic drawings, commissioned by DKO architects, the determined yield was for a mixed-use development which included retail tenancies at ground and first floor level facing Johnston Street and residential apartments within the levels above provided a yield of 54 apartments and 5,002 square meters of Net Saleable Area. Car parking is provided via a single level basement, with vehicle access occurring via a single crossover on Little Turner Street at the northern end of the site.

Status

The property was sold, 12 months after acquisition, in November 2018 for an undisclosed amount.