Just 11 homes specially for women over 55 in $315M Build to Rent in Melbourne

There will be 477 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in developer Local Residential's first Built to Rent in inner city Kensington, 4km northwest of Melbourne's CBD, including 33 social and affordable homes, 11 of which are for women over the age of 55 who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness, and 12 specialist disability homes. 

A topping-out ceremony was held last week with City of Melbourne’s Lord Mayor Sally Capp and stakeholders from Macquarie Bank, NAB, Hacer Group and Women’s Property Initiatives. 

The project is being designed as a campus-style precinct with a shared internal courtyard and links between the six eight-storey buildings. There is also 461.5sq m of retail space on the ground floor.   

Amenities for residents include two private dining rooms, a 250sqm gym and wellness area, a co-working space, cinema, art studio, lounge, outdoor pool and deck.   

Hayball designed the apartments for the project with landscape architecture firm Openwork designing the outdoor areas.