Melbourne & Australian Architecture Topics

http://afr.com/premium/articles/2003/07 ... 56739.html

Airspace promises next real-estate boom
Tina Perinotto Jul 29

Forget the land boom. The next real-estate cycle could be built on airspace.

Jeffrey Squire from the research and valuer group LandMarkWhite said the next wave of urban property development was likely to come from the airspace above major railway stations.

"As available development sites are snapped up, developers are scouring metropolitan areas for opportunities in preparation for the next development cycle," Mr Squire said.

Increasingly, they were choosing to buy air rights rather than find scarce and expensive in-fill sites. And the trend was catching, he said.

Sydney now has mixed-use developments over railways, most prominently at Bondi Junction and St Leonards; developers in Melbourne are keenly looking at the idea and in Brisbane Milton railway station has been earmarked for consideration as a potential airspace development.

More often than not airspace is sold for far less than the cost of normal development sites.

Stephen Ellis of real-estate agent CB Richard Ellis said the price of airspace would "always be less, [than land] because there are so few buyers".

Politically - and environmentally - the idea has plenty of upside. Living, shopping and, perhaps, working in the same building is increasingly seen as a solution to shrinking land supplies, especially in big metropolitan centres, according to leading planners.

Mr Squire said there was also political pressure to favour the trend towards using airspace.

"The political climate is right, with the NSW government currently exploring options to fund election promises of upgrading transport networks and solving Sydney's dilemma of providing housing for a growing population," Mr Squire said.

In Sydney, St Leonards and Bondi Junction railway stations have featured medium to high-rise mixed development using airspace as real estate.

At Bondi, Meriton Apartments bought a 99-year lease in 1995 for $16.73 million, according to Mr Squire. The end result was 304 units and 2000 sq m of commercial and retail space.

At St Leonards, on Sydney's lower North Shore, The Forum development by the Winton Group involved a 99-year leasehold of airspace for development of a 26-storey tower with 290 units, an 11-storey tower with office and retail space of 7403 sq m of net lettable space and a 35-storey tower with 483 units.

Mirvac has also jumped into the fray with airspace development rights at Chatswood railway station.

Two of the site lots were bought for $10 million and the finished product is expected to be worth about $500 million with a mix of units and office space and five buildings.

Mr Squire said similar work was under way at North Arncliffe over Wolli Creek railway station where 1850 apartments and 80,000 sq m of commercial space was planned.

Other contenders for airspace included railway stations along the Parramatta-to-Chatswood railway link now under construction.

Mr Squire said Hurstville, Kogarah and Rockdale railway stations were also potential development sites.

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Off the top of my head, I can think of a few stations which are ripe for this kind of development!

This idea has been on my mind for awhile now, as a way of getting rid of ubiquitous ugly open cut railway tracks, increasing housing density around activity centres which are well serviced with public transport and raising badly needed money for the cash strapped railways! Win, Win, Win

I've only ever seen it done on both sides of the Chapel Street railway bridge in South Yarra and Fed Square in the city.

Has anyone seen it done anywhere else in Melbourne

You could probably add Box Hill to that list, albeit it's what, 20 years old? and it's also a Shopping Centre... however...

Are they building over track on the Hurstbridge line for the Austin redevelopment?

I think that the south side of South Yarra station (High Street) has the potential to be turned into a great plaza. This would minimise the interruption to the streetscape that the railways have.

I've long thought of decking over all of that stretch of line between Chapel Street and Toorak Road (the Pak / Cran. / Franga lines). But I'd prefer them to concentrate on breaking Stonnington City Councils NIMBYness re: the area between the Station and Como / SY21.

IMHO all railway lines are under utilized.
We could be using the land above and around railway lines for multiple uses.

Eg....

Underground power transmission cables.
Fibre optic Telecommunications cables.
Overhead housing, retail and commercial development.

In effect we could be covering them literally with concrete boxes making the system almost underground like.... this would also reduce damage to rollingstock by vandalism whilst trains are yarded if the yards have been built on.