Metricon’s Ross Palazzesi selling Docklands ’sky home’ as company sheds jobs

Metricon major shareholder Ross Palazzesi is selling a deluxe Docklands apartment as the building company begins redundancy talks with hundreds of employees.

Metricon’s acting executive chairperson Ross Palazzesi is selling the apartment 3501/90 Lorimer St, Docklands.

Metricon’s acting executive chairperson Ross Palazzesi is offloading a swanky Docklands apartment with a $2.95m asking price, as the embattled building company moves to cut hundreds of jobs.

Real estate industry sources also revealed Mr Palazzesi, a longstanding director and major shareholder in Metricon, sold his Balwyn home for more than $3.1m in February.

Ross Palazzesi’s four-bedroom “sky home” at 3501/90 Lorimer St features a three car spaces and ‘spectacular’ Melbourne city, Yarra River and Port Phillip views.

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CoreLogic records show he purchased the apartment for $1.925m in 2007 and later rented it for $1300 per week.

A Metricon spokesperson said Mr Palazzesi and his family were selling because “following Covid, he is spending much more time in regional Victoria and wasn’t getting much use out of Lorimer St”.

“The apartment has become surplus to their needs in the post-pandemic hybrid-work era,” the spokesperson said.

The Docklands apartment is on the complex’s thirty-fifth floor.

Great views from the 219sq m property.

A stylish monochrome bathroom with artwork on the walls.

Mr Palazzesi was appointed Metricon’s acting executive chairperson following the death of

company founder and chief executive officer Mario Biasin earlier this year.

Metricon recently started a consultation process with its 2500 or so staff that will lead to redundancies and a 9 per cent reduction in the size of its workforce, equating to about 225 jobs being cut.

Acting chief executive Peter Langfelder said he expected most of the roles impacted would be in sales and marketing.

Metricon acting chief executive Peter Langfelder speaks about the state of the home building company alongside acting executive chairman Ross Palazzesi and suppliers. Picture: Kiel Egging

A mirrored hall leads to the home’s living and dining area.

A vista of boats and the city from the apartment’s windows.

Metricon’s owners, the Palazzesi, Langfelder and Biasin families, injected $30m into the business as a “demonstration of their commitment to the future of the company” in May.

Victoria’s construction industry is under intense pressure after builders signed fixed contracts to build unprecedented numbers of homes around the state just before material and trades shortages caused the largest increase in the cost of building a new home since the 1980s.

As the nation’s largest volume builder, Metricon is at the centre of concerns with Housing Industry Association reports showing it had more than 6000 housing starts last year.

Tenants of the apartment have access to a communal gym, pool, spa, steam room and sauna.

One of four bedrooms.

In July, Metricon put 57 display homes with a combined worth of about $65m on the market across Victoria, NSW, Queensland and South Australia.

Mirvac Victoria Real Estate Services business development manager Andrew Chen declined to comment on the Docklands listing.

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