KCL Law’s Construction and Infrastructure team recently advised Crema Constructions in relation to three significant developments:
- The Eighth in Palmerston Crescent, South Melbourne — a Crema Group (Developments) mixed-use development consisting of 36 residences, office spaces, a restaurant and wine bar, day spa, bath house and movement studio, and a rooftop pool/bar. Completion due early 2023.
- 164-184 Roden Street, West Melbourne — a USA-based Sentinel Real Estate Group development consisting of 172 build-to-rent apartments across seven levels with a two-level basement, communal rooftop terrace and a retained heritage and window-wall façade. Completion due late 2022.
- The Marker, West Melbourne — a mixed-use development by Crema Group, City Developments Limited & Lechte Corporation consisting of 195 residential apartments and retail spaces over eight levels, including ground-level retailers and cafes, secure basement parking and storage cages. Completion due mid-2022.
Principal Lawyer Damien Simonetti and Lawyer Jaimi Johanson advised Crema on a variety of contract forms including amended AS4902-2000 and AS4300-1995, Early Contractor Involvement (ECI) forms and bespoke consultant agreements, and negotiated directly with the developers and their lawyers over many months. The various contracts involved a number of complexities such as COVID-19 delays, concurrency, protection works and air rights, provisional sums, latent conditions, limitation of liability, construction clarifications and exclusions and the contracts themselves, which were heavily amended and required deciphering and further amendment to meet the parties’ expectations.
Significantly, KCL Law’s core amendments relating to document precedence, latent conditions, extensions of time, delay costs, variations and PS margins and limitation of liability were well-received by the developers’ lawyers which facilitated negotiations.
KCL Law also advised on and successfully negotiated accompanying Tripartite Deeds and Facility Agreements for The Eighth and The Marker directly with the financiers’ lawyers pre and post building contract execution, which was focused on filling payment gaps in connection with financier step-in rights and financier required amendments to the building contract.
Damien Simonetti said, “Jaimi and I have developed a good working relationship with Adam Keenan-Dunn, Darcy Milgate, David Campbell-Burns and Christian Crema at Crema Constructions. There is a team environment and we know exactly what we want to get out of the negotiations whilst understanding the important commercial aspects of the market. Each of these projects represent the diverse capabilities of Crema as the Group expands into different areas within the industry”.
Christian Crema, Director at Crema Constructions, said, “At Crema, we provide quality assurance and certainty of delivery across all our projects. In working with KCL Law they have helped us mitigate complexity across contracts and enabled us to commence work on a solid foundation with clients, partners and consultants. A factor which we strongly value across our business”.
KCL Law has also recently advised Crema in recent tenders with departures tables and during the recent Covid-19 restrictions and other in-project consulting advices for the above projects together with Parkview Apartments in Alphington, Saint Moritz in St Kilda, Normanby in Southbank, 183 A’Beckett Street and 192-204 A’Beckett Street in Melbourne, and Metropolitan Hotel Tower in Melbourne.
Crema Group (Developments) and Crema Constructions has been operating in Melbourne for over 70 years, creating a highly reputable name within both the property and construction industries.
For more information
For more information, or to arrange an introduction, please contact Stuart Giles, Business Development & Marketing Manager, sgiles@kcllaw.com.au or (03) 8600 8822.