A 21-story office development in central Melbourne received unanimous approval from the Future Melbourne Committee. The AU$800-million (US$620-million) 39,000-square-meter building in Southgate will house 4,000 employees as proposed.
The site at 16-60 City Road currently has 76,600 square meters of commercial space across the HWT Tower and IBM Centre and is home to a four-level retail plaza and a basement parking structure, which will be demolished to make way for the tower.
The Fender Katsalidis-designed office building will incorporate more than 10,000 square meters of retail and add 2,000 square meters of north-facing, elevated public space to the ground plane. The site will be activated by a 160 meter-long frontage to the promenade which will be connected to the riverfront boulevard and neighboring arts precinct.
“One of the key points of this entire masterplan is to unlock the site and maximise permeability, which in its current format is not happening across the site,” Fender Katsalidis principal Nicky Drobis said.
The building is targeting a 5-Star Green Star and 5.5-star Nabers rating.
ARA Asset Management acquired the 2.1hectare site from Dexus in 2016 for AU$578 million (US$448 million)—representing a cap rate of 6.5 percent at the time.
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