Kings Park Rd development

KATHLEEN Reidy House, the former Nurses Memorial Centre, and an adjoining office building on Kings Park Road are to be redeveloped into a state-of-the-art, multi-million dollar commercial and residential building.

Property owner Zadella Pty Ltd has entered into an agreement with developer, Mair & Co, to redevelop the combined 2264sqm site into unique residential and office apartments, and straight residential apartments.

While Mair & Co chairman John Mair could not comment on the proposal, industry sources say redevelopment plans are advancing, sensitive to the historical components of Kathleen Reidy House at 34 Kings Park Road. Parts of the building were built in 1899 and 1910 and are National Trust and Heritage listed.

The buildings were bought by Zadella for $3.1 million in 1996 but Zadella’s plans to convert the properties into a $7 million 3,800sqm office building did not proceed. Consequently, Kathleen Reidy House has been vacant for the past five years, but an income was earned from leases in the adjacent office building at 36 Kings Park Road on the corner of Outram Street.

In the early 1990s a previous owner of 34 Kings Park Road received Perth City Council approval for a $10 million residential and commercial mixed-use redevelopment.

Since selling its agency in the 1990s, Mair & Co has been operating as a residential developer. It recently completed a $10 million staged redevelopment of three properties on the corner of Clive and Colin streets in West Perth. That development included 42 residential apartments in one building and four three-level apartments in a second building. The ground floor of the building is fitted out as 60sqm offices.

Zadella has been investing in West Perth property for almost a decade. The company purchased National Mutual House on the corner of Murray and Hay streets in 1996 for $5.5 million and built a modern office building at 40 Ord Street in 1999.