Following their complete acquisition of The Jam Factory in Melbourne, new owners GURNER and Qualitas are planning to transform the 20,000sqm iconic site in South Yarra into a $2.75 billion city-defining mixed-use precinct.

Having acquired the remaining interest of The Jam Factory from primary development partner Newmark Capital, GURNER and Qualitas are injecting $180 million in equity to develop the site. The planned mixed-use precinct, which will be delivered in smaller stages, will include around 15,000sqm of commercial office, over 20,000sqm of retail, Village Cinemas, a large wellness precinct, two hotels and ultra luxury residential towers.

The Jam Factory redevelopment will anchor the transformation of Chapel Street into the iconic street it used to be in the past. The revised scheme will build on the existing vision for the site, offering the community a new thriving retail, hospitality, entertainment and commercial heart of South Yarra to live, work and play – surrounding a world-class piazza that will hero the original Jam Factory chimney, along with cafes, bars and restaurants.

The heritage façade will be mostly retained while the Village Cinemas complex will be repositioned to anchor it on the north-facing, 1800sqm public piazza.

Complementing the commercial offering will be two hotels and three luxury residential towers facing north towards the CBD skyline and north-west towards the bay with uninterrupted 360-degree views.

The precinct will also offer over 15,000sqm of amenities with warm, inviting and homely spaces and sophisticated bookable interior and exterior spaces, all designed to reflect the grandeur of New York’s finest upper east side buildings and residences. These spaces will include a 10m high library and lounge area, large outdoor pool with formal gardens and pool tea house, cigar lounge, afternoon tea drawing rooms, a large art collection, GURNER’s signature wellness offering, and much more. The retail precinct will continue to target the world’s best lifestyle brands to reinvigorate Chapel Street on the ground floor.

Chapel Street

“Building on the vision we created with Newmark, I truly believe this to be Melbourne’s most important and iconic regeneration site,” GURNER founder and executive chairman Tim Gurner says. “We are very excited to be able to deliver this incredible project with our long-term strategic partner in Qualitas and we know together we can revitalise this critical site for Melbourne.”

“There is no other site like this in Melbourne with 20,000sqm of prime South Yarra land sitting on Melbourne’s most important retail strip of Chapel Street, it’s an iconic site that we know we can bring back to its glory days.

“We’ll breathe new life into the site and deliver our signature level of amenity, service and residences alongside world-class retail and commercial. The retail, hospitality, hotels and commercial creation is what is most exciting about this site to be able to bring back an icon to Melbourne’s entertainment and shopping heartland with world-class operators and brands.

“We’ll be taking opulence, sophistication and luxury to a whole new level with our sky-high mansions, delivering a level of residence that was previously only found on Toorak’s most exclusive streets,” Gurner says.

Qualitas global head of real estate and co-founder, Mark Fischer says, “It’s great to be partnering with GURNER on this project as we look to deliver on the world-class vision that the project team has set for the Jam Factory redevelopment. Our ability to provide flexible capital for this large project demonstrates our equity investment capabilities.”

The GURNER team is already collaborating with Council to ensure approval of the Stage One scheme for demolition and construction work to start at the beginning of 2025, and the entire project to commence construction by the end of 2025.

Branko Miletic

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