Slimline towers profligate in Melbourne
Melbourne is spawning apartment complexes like mushrooms on a spring morning and the rush is on to get approvals through before the government goes into caretaker mode in just eight weeks.
Planning minister Matthew Guy is about to approve a 300m tower to replace the newly restored Savoy Tavern. Singaporean developer Fragrance Group is seeking the go-ahead for a 90-storey tower that would feature almost 1000 apartments and 280 hotel rooms on the corner of Spencer and Bourke streets.
The tower is designed by architects Ellenberg Fraser and Callum Fraser said the height of the building would not be out of character with the surrounding areas, describing the proposed slender vertical tower as “a landmark development”.
Property magnate Koh Wee Meng’s Fragrance Group bought the site for $44.5 million from transport magnate Mark Rowsthorn in June.
Mr Guy last week approved the Hong Kong-based Far East Consortium’s Lonsdale St 51-storey skyscraper. And an application for a 103m super thin tower on a 168m² site in Southbank by Branson Group is also before Mr Guy. At 33 levels the building is only 8.13m wide, the amazing bronze glass apartment tower will feature sky gardens every 5th floor.
