Building to rent: Mirvac’s newest tower LIV Aston only for tenants – and their four-legged friends

Mirvac’s LIV Aston Docklands complex is designed exclusively for tenants and features an elevated dog park for their four-legged friends.

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A new zoo high above the streets of Docklands is set to crown the dog kings of the urban jungle, but only for the tenants’ fur babies.

It is part of Melbourne’s newest apartment tower, which rolls out the red carpet for four-legged residents: corporate owners are using pet-friendly apartments to lure the best tenants away from more traditional investment properties owned by smaller investors.

The Real Estate Institute of Victoria, PropTrack and investment groups have all raised alarms, fearing an exodus of small landlords from the state.

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Meanwhile, new data published in the Herald Sun on Sunday shows that in the city, where developers and super funds act as landlords, more planning permissions will be granted for new homes than homes will be sold to the public over the next three years.

Figures from Charter Keck Cramer suggest that the city will see an average of nearly 8,000 new housing units completed per year from 2025 to 2028, of which more than 4,000 per year will be build-to-rent projects, where the developer plans to collect rent rather than sell the units.

Alexa Jones and her dog Ziggy take an early look at the dog park. Photo: Tony Gough.

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The complex is over 30 stories high and houses almost 450 apartments.

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Ziggy, 9-year-old Spanador, and owner Alexa Jones got a sneak peek of the private dog paradise five floors above ground in the city’s newest building of its kind: Mirvac’s LIV Aston complex, which officially opens its doors today (August 26).

The virtual gated community for puppies is just one of the features the developer is using to attract tenants to its 474 residential units.

There is also a 25 m long sports pool, a mix of traditional and infrared saunas, a gym, a rooftop lounge and a cinema.

To appeal to the growing number of tenants who want to work from home, there are also coworking areas, conference rooms and a podcast room.

Angela Buckley, head of build-to-rent at Mirvac, said the aim was to address key “pain points” for tenants. For many, this included pet acceptance, despite a law coming into force in 2020 that prohibits landlords from rejecting applications simply because they bring a four-legged resident.

Having a sports pool also encourages residents to put their health and well-being first.

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Numerous common rooms give tenants space to network and build a community.

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“At LIV, we focus on creating an environment where people can connect with each other through shared living spaces and stay as long as they want to put down roots – a real community, not just a place to live,” Ms Buckley said.

But these advantages come at a price: the rents offered at Tower 7 Siddeley St., Docklands, range from $660 per week for a studio apartment to $1,625 per week for a three-bedroom apartment.

The apartments have also been designed with energy efficiency in mind and the developer encourages long-term rental contracts.

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