Saracen Plots Perth Supermarket, Self-Storage

Plans for a Woolworths-anchored mixed-use development with a construction price tag of $55 million has been filed for the western edge of the Perth CBD.

The plans, by architects Cameron Chisholm Nicol, have been submitted to the City of Perth by Saracen Properties for the project at 707 Murray Street, which includes a large self-storage component, retail and specialist residential units.

Previous owners applied to do a similar project on the site, a disused carpark intended for the now-closed Princess Margaret Hospital, in 2021.

However, “due to a range of factors” that the current development application lists as construction-cost escalation, labour shortages “and other post-Covid challenges” the former proponent decided not to proceed with the approvals it received for the site. 

Taking its own bite of the cherry, Saracen has lodged this new application, maintaining core design principles and approaches of the current approval, but with “an updated land use mix and development solution,” according to the development application. 

The proposed development would deliver “a critical service gap” for West Perth, the DA said, offering its first, full-line supermarket with a range of other retail and hospitality uses. 

The six-storey building would also have community services and residential units fronting Cook Street, under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. 

The proposal also introduces self-storage elements, which the developer says will allow for future-proofing of the building, and allow for different future uses, including further residential. 

It will offer a 3687sq m supermarket, 13,823sq m of self-storage and 2554sq m of other commercial and retail tenancies, as well as a 236-lot carpark.

The units have been specifically designed for accessibility, with carer units and a landscaped courtyard for residents on level two. 

It marked a “significant investment”, the DA said, which would support the city’s target of 90,000 residents in the coming decades—a tripling of the current population—and provide amenity for the adjacent Subi East redevelopment area.

The Subi East redevelopment, being overseen by DevelopmentWA, aims to rejuvenate 35ha of land, creating an inner-city centre to support 4000 new residents.

Elsewhere, Saracen has been approved for a neighbourhood retail centre just south of Perth CBD.

Meanwhile, at 879-883 Wellington Street, about 650m east of the Murray Street project, a 1254sq m site has hit the market with commercial zoning and a 3:1 plot ratio.

* Renders by Cameron Chisholm Nicol.