Kingston's Best Western Motel to be replaced by $48 million development

A $48 million apartment complex will replace the former Best Western Monaro Motel site in Kingston.

It is one in a string of redevelopments that are set to rejuvenate the older part of the inner south suburb.

The development application, which has already been approved by the ACT Planning and Land Authority, shows plans for a five-storey complex comprising 104 units and commercial space.

POD Projects Group and Core Building Group bought the site at 29 Dawes Street for $6 million in July last year.

The development, which has been named Salt, will feature street frontage onto Dawes Street and offer a pedestrian connection to Green Square.

The Best Western Monaro Motel closed in December after operating on the site for more than 50 years. It is being demolished to make way for the new development.

POD Projects Group managing director Paul O’Donnell said recent development in the suburb has been concentrated around the foreshore, however upcoming development around Green Square would help to enliven the other end of the suburb.

Around the corner from Salt on Wentworth Avenue, the old WIN TV site is set for a similar transformation. A development application showing plans for a 130-unit complex at the site has been lodged.

An $800 million redevelopment of the nearby Manuka Oval has also been proposed.

The large car park at the Kingston Group Centre will be developed into a 167-unit complex and Supabarn supermarket with two levels of basement car parking.

Mr O’Donnell said the Salt development will comprise a mix of one-bedroom, one-bedroom plus study, two-bedroom and three-bedroom apartments. The 104-unit complex will include about 40 different floor plans.

A 167-square-metre commercial space will be situated on the ground floor and include five car parks.

Mr O’Donnell said the name “Salt” reflects the development’s distinctive design.

“The development is so unique that we thought it needed a name as unique and striking as the building itself,” Mr O’Donnell said.

The complex will be built by Core Building Group, developed by POD Project Group and designed by Nathan Gibson Judd Architect.

Mr Gibson Judd is an award-winning architect and has worked on some of Braddon’s most distinctive buildings and upcoming developments including Ori, Palko, Nibu and Yamaroshi.

He said Salt’s design was inspired by the suburb of Kingston.

“We’ve got an affection for the inner Canberra suburbs,” Mr Gibson Judd said.

“Kingston is a classic, old-school Canberra suburb, it has the vistas and the trees so we wanted to do something a bit more classic and elegant. It’s a simple, restrained, modernesque building.”

Light, both inside and out was a key element for the design, Mr Gibson Judd said.

The windows have been staggered to create a “lantern effect” from the street.

Many of the apartments are set on a corner to capture the sun at different times of the day and provide a dual aspect.

“Another fun thing that POD let us do was create these nifty, compact 50-square metre apartments that front onto Dawes Street,” Mr Gibson Judd said.

Smaller apartments, Mr Gibson Judd said, aren’t always given such a prominent position and he said it’s one of the features that will set the development apart.

“It’s an unusual offering and I think it will go very quickly.”

Mr O’Donnell said the development will hit the market next month and construction will start in the middle of the year.