This article first appeared in City & Country, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on November 25, 2024 - December 1, 2024

WINNER | Sapphire by the Gardens, Melbourne, Australia | S P Setia Bhd

Located at the intersection of Exhibition Street and La Trobe Street in Melbourne’s central business district, and with the Unesco World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens at its doorstep, Sapphire by the Gardens’ glass skyscrapers and iconic skybridge have left an indelible impression on the city skyline since its completion in 2022.

“With the 64-acre World Heritage gardens in front, which will never be built over, and its location in the city, it has the best of both worlds really,” says See Hunt Soon, director of Setia (Melbourne) Development Co Pty Ltd, the developer and a wholly-owned subsidiary of S P Setia Bhd (KL:SPSETIA).

The A$600 million (RM1.7 billion) mixed-use development comprises a 60-level residential tower and a 62-level hotel tower, including a nine-storey podium.

All of the residential tower’s 325 luxury apartments are fully sold. In fact, the project essentially sold itself, See recalls.

“When we launched in June 2017, we were planning to put up a display suite. But we never got to build it because the project was almost 70% taken up in the first three months and sold out soon after that. This was one project we sold without any display suite and just off the plan. So, that was quite something.”

Both towers were completed in September 2022 and the first residents of the residential tower moved in a month later. As for the hotel tower, it is currently in the fit-out stage and will soon be home to Melbourne’s first and much anticipated Shangri-La Hotel.

“We are actually at the tail end of finalising the fit-out with the contractor. It has taken a while because when Covid-19 hit, we couldn’t do much, and when the borders reopened, the price of everything went up. So whatever we priced in a few years before was very hard to maintain. We had to go back to the drawing board and review the design with Shangri-La. We’ve spent the last six to nine months navigating this and I think we are there now. The contractor can start work early next year,” he says.

The five-star hotel is expected to receive its first guests in 2026 and will have about 500 rooms, a ballroom with over 1,000 seating and 1,500 standing capacity, function rooms and event spaces, a health club, spa and wellness centre, as well as skybridge restaurants and bars.

The hotel component was not part of the initial plans for Sapphire by the Gardens, but the developer saw an opportunity to bring in the five-star luxury hotelier to open the third Shangri-La Hotel in Australia.

“When we started, we thought the site could potentially have two residential towers. But the plan evolved when we thought having two residential towers could make it quite a dense development, and at the time, the hotel market was doing very well plus there was a shortage of brand new five-star hotels in Melbourne. So we thought it would be an opportunity for us to do something new and bring Shangri-La on board because there was no Shangri-La in Melbourne yet, and Melbourne is such a key city,” says See.

Apart from the project’s prime location, having two renowned architecture firms — Cox Architecture and Fender Katsalidis (FKA) — no doubt added to its appeal.

“Put it this way, you can’t really get that kind of site every day, so that’s already a big thing for us. And to add another layer to it, we were thinking of what we could do with the site, to do it justice. So I think that it is very important for us to have people with creativity on the project. Cox and FKA are two very reputable architectural practices.”

The building’s architecture was inspired by its verdant World Heritage backdrop whose greenery was articulated and drawn from ground level up to the podium. The buildings were also designed with flowing sinuous curves and positioned in such a way to diminish the effects of the wind. The two towers are joined by a glass oculus skybridge on the 46th floor.

Sapphire by the Gardens received the Outstanding Overseas Project award at The Edge Malaysia Property Excellence Awards 2024.

The residential tower, which has a gross development value of A$410 million, comprises a 1,200 sq m penthouse and one- to three-bedroom apartments with built-ups of 52 to 162 sq m.

Interestingly, there are some units that have been completely redesigned off-plan, says See.

“When we launched this project, we had close to 350 apartments. But at its completion, we only had 325. This is because quite a number of buyers bought multiple units on the same floor and amalgamated them into a bigger unit. We had around 19 buyers who did that, so that’s quite a huge amount of interest coming from those who bought to live there.”

He adds that these buyers are mainly downsizers who moved from bigger houses into the luxury high-rise.

“They don’t have to take care of the garden, there’s a pool and all kinds of amenities. At the same time, they wanted the space to suit their lifestyle and to be able to curate the space to their own taste and design. This customisation was all done at the time they bought it. So, there are very different apartment layouts inside the building.”

According to See, most of the residents are owner-occupiers, while some of the one-bedroom units are leased out.

“The one-plus-study units are actually quite popular among owner-occupiers rather than renters. Rental demand is also very high because of the exclusivity of the location and the park in front. The rental yields are very good at between 5% and 7%,” he says.

The one- to three-bedroom units were sold from A$550,000 to A$3.55 million while the 1,200 sq m shell penthouse was transacted at A$39 million.

According to See, asking rents start from A$580 per week for the one-bedder, A$980 for the two-bedder and up to A$1,250 for the three-bedder. “It’s very hard to find a three-bedder to rent as most of the owners live in them.”

He notes that the property is over 90% occupied, with around half of the units kept as weekenders.

The property was designed with health and wellness amenities in mind, with facilities such as an infinity pool, sauna, gym and lounges as well as skybridge facilities on the 46th level that house a sky lounge with kitchen facilities, private dining area, cinema and karaoke room.

Stepping out of the property, residents have the convenience of the Exhibition/La Trobe tram stop at their doorstep and the Parliament railway station a short walk away.

Sapphire by the Gardens is within walking distance of Chinatown, restaurants on Lygon Street, Her Majesty’s Theatre and The Princess Theatre, RMIT University, Treasury Gardens and Fitzroy Gardens, and a short tram ride to Emporium, University of Melbourne, sporting arenas like the Melbourne cricket ground and Marvel Stadium, as well as Arts Centre Melbourne and National Gallery of Victoria in Southbank.

True to its name, Sapphire by the Gardens glistens like a jewel in the city skyline. But to get to where it is today, it took a lot of perseverance and effort.

The main challenge was the complex site, says See. “The project proved to be an engineering challenge as we had to build over an existing working tunnel that connects Melbourne Central to Parliament Station. So getting approvals to build over the tunnel took a while as well as a lot of engineering analysis. We also could not pile but had to build a foundation over the tunnel, so the builder [Multiplex] had to do a massive 24-hour concrete pour, which was a record in Melbourne, and we had 469 trucks running through to create the foundation.

“There was a whole host of engineering and loading requirements that we had to satisfy before we could build a tower. If we couldn’t satisfy them, the tower design would have to be changed or lowered. But we pulled through and the project became one of the biggest successes in the city.”

Apart from that, the developer had to ensure that construction of the project did not affect telecommunications provider Telstra’s cables running underground near the site.

“Because we are next to the Telstra building, we needed to give an undertaking and build an underground bombproof cable chamber where thousands and thousands of cables run through so that the construction works would not affect half a million mobile phone users in the CBD,” says See.

“They are both critical infrastructure works, and thankfully, Multiplex was up to the task. You need to have the right contractor on board and they are great builders. You just have to give them the design and let them work out what’s best and how best to do it. I think they did a fantastic job.”

The construction of the skybridge was another engineering feat, he says.

“The skybridge is nearly triple-storey in height, so it’s like a massive hall, connecting the two towers. It also has an oculus on the floor and roof, so you can view up and down. That’s never been done before.”

The project was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic as Melbourne implemented one of the world’s longest lockdowns. “We were hit with about eight months’ delay, but I think we mitigated the situation,” says See.

“But despite all the challenges, we managed to finish the development and sold every apartment. This is another milestone for us.”

Sapphire by the Gardens is powered by green energy and is independently assessed to be equivalent to a Green Building Council of Australia’s 5 Star Green Star-rated building at the point of completion, he says. “For us, we want to know that we are putting up a world-class building.”

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