Scape Franklin sits at 99 Franklin Street, Melbourne 3000 — 180 metres from RMIT, which is about a three-minute walk. It's one of the most amenity-dense student buildings in the Melbourne CBD, and that's the whole question with this property: you're paying a premium for a gym, a cinema, a music studio and a rooftop terrace, and whether that's worth it depends entirely on whether you'll actually use them.
This piece breaks the offer down by what you get, not by what the marketing says.
The pricing problem, stated upfront
Scape's own property page doesn't publish weekly rates for any room type. An aggregator listing references a starting rate of around A$699/week, but that figure isn't confirmed on Scape's own site and should be treated as indicative only. Compare that to Scape Queensberry, ten minutes away, where the full price ladder is published from $379 to $839 — same operator, very different transparency.
What this means for you practically: you can't do a like-for-like comparison against other Melbourne buildings without contacting Scape directly for a quote on your specific room type and lease length. Budget an email or a call before you shortlist this one, and don't assume the A$699 figure applies to the room you want.
Room types and what the square metres actually mean
Two configurations are documented with floor areas, and the numbers are worth reading carefully:
| Room type | Room size | What's in it |
| 2 Bed Apartment | ~7 sqm (bedroom) | Double bed, study desk, wardrobe, private bathroom |
| 6 Bed Apartment with ensuite | ~12 sqm (bedroom) | Double bed, private ensuite, shared kitchen |
| Ultra Studio Suite | ~32 sqm | Self-contained |
| Signature Plus Studio Suite | ~27 sqm | Self-contained |
| Signature Studio Suite | ~25 sqm | Self-contained |
| Signature Studio Apartment | ~15 sqm | Self-contained |
Note the counterintuitive bit: the 6-bed apartment gives you a bigger bedroom (12 sqm) than the 2-bed apartment (7 sqm). If floor space matters to you more than how many people you share a kitchen with, the more-shared option is the roomier one here. That's not something the listing hierarchy makes obvious, and it's the kind of detail worth checking on a floor plan before you assume "fewer flatmates" means "more space."
At 7 sqm, the 2-bed apartment bedroom is genuinely compact — for context, that's roughly the footprint of a small single bedroom. Ask to see a floor plan or a virtual tour before committing to that one.
The amenity list, sorted by whether you'll use it
Scape Franklin's facilities are the main selling point: 24/7 gym, private cinema, gaming zone, music studio, communal lounges with pool tables, rooftop terrace, study spaces, communal kitchen, and laundry.
Here's the honest sorting:
Genuinely valuable to most residents — the 24/7 gym (a Melbourne CBD gym membership typically runs a meaningful monthly cost, so this offsets real money), study spaces, and laundry. These get used weekly or daily.
Valuable to a specific subset — the music studio. If you're a music student or you play, this is close to unique among Melbourne student buildings and could genuinely be the deciding factor. If you don't, it's a line item you're subsidising.
Nice, occasional — the cinema, gaming zone, and pool tables. These matter for the social side of the building more than for their own sake; they're where you meet people in your first month.
If your realistic answer is "gym and study spaces," you should compare Scape Franklin's quote against buildings with a leaner amenity set and a lower rate before deciding.
What's included in rent
All utilities — electricity, water, heating — plus unlimited high-speed Wi-Fi. That's a genuine cost saving versus a private rental where those get billed separately, and it makes the weekly figure more comparable to other student housing than it would first appear.
The booking protections worth knowing
Scape Franklin operates "No Visa No Pay" and "No University No Pay" policies. If your student visa is refused or your university place doesn't come through, you're not locked into the contract. For international students booking accommodation before an offer or visa is confirmed, this is a substantive protection, not marketing fluff — it's the difference between a deposit at risk and a deposit that isn't.
Location: who this actually suits
- RMIT students — 180 metres, three-minute walk. This is about as close as Melbourne CBD student housing gets to RMIT.
- Melbourne Institute of Technology — 350 metres, five minutes.
- University of Melbourne — roughly a 10-minute walk or 5-minute tram, per Scape's own materials.
- Melbourne Central station — about 10 minutes on foot, and the building sits inside the free tram zone.
Bottom line
Scape Franklin is the right choice if you're at RMIT, you'll use the gym and study spaces regularly, and the social amenity set matters to you — and if the quote you get comes back competitive against published alternatives. It's the wrong choice if you want a quiet, low-cost base and you'd rather not pay into a cinema and a music studio you won't touch.
The single action to take before shortlisting: get a written quote for your specific room type and lease dates, because you cannot meaningfully compare this building to any other without one.
