South Carolina-based real estate heavyweight Greystar has appointed property developer Icon to construct its $500 million Build to Rent project Gladstone Street in South Melbourne’s Fishermans Bend precinct.

Comprising 700 apartments across three towers, plus 850sqm of retail space, Gladstone Street will become one of the nation’s biggest purpose-built Build to Rent developments, with over 4,300sqm of indoor and outdoor communal space.

Build to Rent’s Community Apartment Project (CAPs) model is similar to retirement villages but without the Deferred Management Fee (DMF), and is becoming a serious challenge to village retirement operators.

“We intend to work with Icon to create the next generation of Build to Rent properties – state-of-the-art developments, in the best strategic locations, built and managed to our global industry-leading standards,” said Chris Key, Managing Director – Australia, Greystar (pictured right).

“Gladstone Street is an exciting addition to our development pipeline in Australia and advances our efforts to make a significant contribution to diversity of choice in housing supply. Our vision for the precinct revolves around the scale and rich variety of amenities on offer, which includes wellness and co-working spaces, pet amenities, and sophisticated resident lounges.”

Greystar bought the site from Singaporean developer Chip Eng Seng for $65 million in 2020.

Read more about Build to Rent and homeshare as alternatives to the traditional rental market in SATURDAY, the premium digital magazine for aged care and retirement living executives.