After 56 years, Meriton's Harry Triguboff comes to Melbourne
Fifty-six years after founding his Meriton apartment empire, Australia’s most successful property developer, Harry Triguboff, has finally dipped his toe in the Melbourne property market.
Mr Triguboff, who has been looking for an opportunity in Melbourne for many years, has bought a small site at 140 King Street near Southern Cross Station where he will develop a Meriton Suites apartment hotel. Industry sources valued the deal at about $29 million.
The project will be Meriton’s first development outside of NSW and Queensland, where it has completed about 70,000 apartments.
Mr Triguboff, whose wealth is set to soar to over $13.5 billion in the upcoming Financial Review Rich List, said he was excited to finally be coming to Melbourne.
“It is very exciting for us to bring Meriton to Melbourne, giving the hotel business a complete presence from Melbourne, throughout Sydney and up to Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” Mr Triguboff told The Australian Financial Review.
“Guests have been asking for a long time, ‘when are you coming to Melbourne’, but it hasn’t been the opportune time, until now.
“It is a great location for us and our early discussions with local government made us feel very welcome – they want us to get started quickly,” said Mr Triguboff, who at 86 shows no signs of slowing down.
Mr Triguboff expressed his desire to buy a serviced apartment site in Melbourne as far back as 2014.
But more recently, in a May 2017 interview with the Financial Review, he said the problem in Melbourne for him was the unions and the weather.
“I used to have big fights with them, so I would have problems with them. The second problem is I don’t like it that it is cold. I’m too old. Old people need warmth,” he said.
The 781-square-metre site at 140 King Street – two blocks up from Rialto Tower in an area set for regeneration – was acquired from Chinese-backed developer Besgate, one of three it put up for sale in March last year.
The site was offered for sale with an existing 2016 permit for a 57-storey building with 263 apartments.
Selling agents Trent Hobart, Tim Storey, Oliver Hay, David Sia and Jozef Dickinson of Colliers International negotiated the deal and confirmed the site had sold, but declined to comment on any aspect of the sale.
“The campaign was a very competitive sale process with a total of 11 offers, which is a reflection of the very strong interest in permitted apartment development sites in the Melbourne CBD and fringe areas,” Mr Hobart said.
Meriton’s director of construction, David Cremona, said the company was
committed to working with Melbourne builders and trades.
“Requests for tender will be issued shortly, with construction due to commence later in the year.”
Meriton founded its serviced apartment business in 2003, which it later rebranded as Meriton Suites.
It currently comprises 18 hotels and 4644 self-catering suites, making it one of the country’s largest owner of hotel rooms.
