Elysian Subiaco Now Complete
Elysian Subiaco, comprising 34 apartments and 550m2 of high street commercial, officially completed in December 2024 just one month behind the original date provided to our very first Buyers. Whilst that suggests an easy run with few road bumps, the journey from creation to completion has been far from easy however the outcome is something we can all celebrate and be very proud of. Testament to Celsius’s belief in everything we do, we will be moving our office into the ground floor space extending our run of operating out of our own developments to 15 years.
Elysian Subiaco was introduced to our team by our JV Partner, Greg Pearce of Windsor Knight in September 2020 who had in turn been introduced to us by Graham Taylor following the completion of Lucent Claremont. Recognising the unique location as being ideal for a luxury, medium density development mirroring the success of Lucent Claremont, we were quite dismayed to learn of the significant challenges that had been encountered trying to secure a development approval.
The State government introduced the State Development pathway as a result of the pandemic which provided us an alternate route to a viable development approval for the site and I can confidently say that without this action Elysian would not exist today.
Following development approval, Builders advised us to expect strong construction escalation which suggested we would see pricing come in approximately 30% higher than Lucent Claremont, which had been finished just 12 months prior at the start of 2021. After the tender process closed we hit the floor when advised construction prices were now tracking at between 55% – 70% higher than Lucent Claremont, instantly rendering the development unviable. Our Development team worked alongside our preferred builder BGC Commercial, meeting individual trades to work collaboratively on a solution that would allow the development to proceed. Additionally a redesign and amalgamation of some two bedroom apartments, revised apartment prices and variation to the original sale contracts were all required to ensure Elysian became a viable prospect. Fortunately the housing market was roaring to life and end sale values were lifting to ensure Buyers existing established homes were increasing in value faster than the very significant construction cost escalation. Unfortunately this has not been true of all areas of Perth making apartment projects only viable in select locations across the metropolitan area, something we hope to see change over time.
BGC Commercial and their sub-contractors have done an excellent job in completing the project amidst an incredibly challenging construction market. Managing expectations of the completion / move-in date and writing to Buyers every month with an update, assisted greatly albeit we acknowledge that a number of our Buyers had significant challenges sourcing alternate accommodation over the final weeks of construction.
A Practical Completion date of the 6th December was never going to be fun as trades began to wind down for the end of year break and Owners desperately wanting to be in their new homes before Christmas. Travis McKenzie spent the last 8 weeks of the job working alongside BGC all day every day to assist drive the program and Kylie Wigham took up residence in the final 4 weeks to ensure we could provide our Buyers with the smoothest move-in possible. No doubt it has not been perfect, it never is in construction, and even when the news has not been exactly what our Clients have wanted to hear, communicating regularly and honestly is the only way Celsius knows how.
Over the festive season I personally took a number of local residents, including immediate neighbours on a tour through Elysian and to thank them for their patience through the construction phase. We understand that there will always be some local opposition to new development and as an industry we owe it to the community to do the best we can through the process. Hopefully over time, good quality development that benefits not just the community within the development but also the surrounding community will win over and Perth will continue to improve on embracing quality infill and the housing choice it provides to the local community.
Next week we will be conducting a number of events to celebrate the completion of Elysian Subiaco. On Tuesday evening we will be holding a Residents welcome evening so they can informally get to know one another and we can thank them for trusting Celsius to deliver them their new home. On Thursday we have a UDIA WA industry tour to afford our industry colleagues an opportunity to see what we have created and on Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th February we will welcome the local community into Elysian for a tour of the development including a couple of unoccupied apartments.
A development of the scale and quality of Elysian takes an army of supporters and whilst it is not possible to acknowledge everyone that assisted Celsius and Windsor Knight deliver Elysian I’d like to thank our architect, MJA, our planners Planning Solutions, our builder BGC Commercial now Atlas Construction, the myriad of independent consultants on the job, and last but not least our amazing team at Celsius. I would also like to acknowledge the Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage and the City of Subiaco who worked collaboratively with Celsius to deliver the project. I would particularly like to thank our Buyers who have been very understanding of the challenges faced in completing the building and coordinating the move-in process.
If you would like to know more about Elysian Subiaco feel free to reach out anytime. To view the Elysian fly-over video, click here. For the team at Celsius, we officially launch Alma Square North Perth https://almasquare.com.au/ on Monday the 10th February following a highly successful local sales campaign over the festive season.
All the very best
Richard