Subi Pavilion back on the block

The controversial Subiaco Pavilion site has been put up for sale, six years after the present owners bought the former markets and fought an extended battle to develop a high-rise apartment block.

Agent for the site, JLL WA director of sales and investment Phillip Fogliani, said the site represents Perth’s most attractive, A-grade, ready to build development site which ought to appeal to any buyer at that level.

Mr Fogliani said Sydney-based developer D2 Property had changed focus back to the east coast and no longer wanted to push ahead with the project.

“It has been a period of time and their business interests have changed,” he said.

The City of Subiaco rejected D2’s 16-storey proposal in 2011, because it was substantially above the council’s five storey limit for the 5,451sqm site.

D2 then appealed to the state government and, in 2014, won then Planning Minister John Day’s approval for the project. The approval placed a three-storey restriction on the height of development on Roberts and Rokeby roads, with 16 storeys allowable only at the rear of the site.

However, the delay in approval has led to changed circumstances. The key economic drivers in Western Australia have waned, the apartment market is looking crowded in the short-term and Subiaco has struggled at a retail level.

Nevertheless the approvals for 292 residential apartments (94 pfg which were to be short-stay hotel rooms), a roof-top bar and 18 specialty shops as well as a gourmet supermarket and conference facilities, have created value for D2, with industry sources suggesting the owners might want as much as $30 million for their efforts.

Mr Fogliani dismissed much of current market indifference, suggesting it was unlikely to affect a strategic buyer given.

“It doesn’t get much better than this location, given Subiaco is pulling towards this central intersection,” he said.

“It is a central focus and height is hard to get in Subiaco.”

The site is for sale by EOI closing at 3pm (AWST) on Thursday August 11.