If you've narrowed your search to Carlton and the northern CBD edge near University of Melbourne and RMIT, these three buildings are the ones you'll keep running into. Rather than reviewing Yugo University Square in isolation, here's how it actually stacks up against the two Scape properties in the same catchment — on price, distance, and what each building is actually designed around.
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The three buildings, side by side
| * | Yugo University Square | Scape Franklin | Scape Queensberry |
| Address | 85 Barry St, Carlton 3053 | 99 Franklin St, Melbourne 3000 | 599 Swanston St, Carlton |
| To University of Melbourne | 2-minute walk | 10-min walk / 5-min tram | ~14-minute walk (0.5 mi) |
| To RMIT | Short walk (CBD-adjacent) | 2-minute walk | ~2-minute walk (0.4 mi) |
| Cheapest room (shared) | $299–309/wk (6-bed bunk cabin) | Not published | $379/wk (twin, 6-bed) |
| Cheapest self-contained studio | $599–699/wk | Not published | $639/wk (Ultra Studio) |
| 1-bedroom apartment | $799–819/wk | Not offered as listed | $839/wk |
| Standout amenity | Gym + conference room + 340-resident community | 24/7 gym, music studio, cinema, rooftop terrace | Cinema room, rooftop BBQ terrace |
| Resident capacity | 340+ | Not published | Not published |
Scape Franklin's official page doesn't publish weekly rates — every other figure here is confirmed directly from the operator's own site or an independent aggregator, cross-checked against a second source where possible.
If you're at University of Melbourne
Yugo University Square wins on pure proximity — a 2-minute walk beats a 14-minute walk or a tram ride, full stop, especially on a cold Melbourne morning with an early lecture. It's also the cheapest of the three at the shared-room end, with 6-bed bunk-cabin rooms starting around $300/week versus Scape Queensberry's $379/week equivalent.
If you're at RMIT
Scape Franklin and Scape Queensberry both sit about a 2-minute walk from RMIT, effectively tied on distance, with Yugo further away since it's built around the Carlton/University of Melbourne side of the precinct. Between the two Scape buildings, Franklin has the more extensive amenity list on paper (music studio, cinema, rooftop terrace, 24/7 gym) but doesn't publish pricing, which makes a fair cost comparison impossible until you contact them directly.
If budget is the deciding factor
Yugo University Square's cheapest published rate ($299/week) undercuts Scape Queensberry's cheapest published rate ($379/week) by roughly $80 a week — over a 40-week academic year, that's over $3,000. That gap alone may settle it if you're self-funding and RMIT isn't your priority campus.
What each building is actually built around
- Yugo University Square — the largest resident community of the three (340+), with a conference room in the amenity mix, suggesting it leans into group study and events more than the other two.
- Scape Franklin — the most amenity-dense on paper: 24/7 gym, dedicated music studio, and a cinema, aimed at residents who want the building itself to be a social hub.
- Scape Queensberry — sits between the other two on both price and amenities, with a straightforward room lineup from twin-share up to a 1-bedroom apartment.
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Bottom line
If University of Melbourne is your campus and budget matters, Yugo University Square is the clear pick on both counts. If RMIT is your campus, Scape Franklin and Scape Queensberry are both about equally close — Scape Queensberry has published pricing to actually compare against Yugo, Scape Franklin doesn't, so get a quote from Franklin directly before ruling either out. None of these three is a bad choice; they're built for slightly different priorities, and the right one depends on which campus and which budget line you're actually optimizing for.
None of these three quite fit? 42 Porter Street in Prahran is a self-contained one-bedroom option a tram ride further out, and Victoria University's St Albans campus is worth a look if you're prepared to trade inner-city proximity for a cheaper western Melbourne base.