Office Tower Planned for Top of Collingwood Pub

Plans to build an eight-storey office tower above a pub in Collingwood, next door to Gurner’s apartment development, have been unveiled by the Vujic Property Group.

The Baden Powell Hotel would be partially demolished to create the 10-storey commercial tower at 61-65 Victoria Parade.

The 510sq m site is next to Gurner’s five-storey residential complex on 2-12 Cambridge Street, which was approved in May 2019 and is yet tobe built or launched.

The applicant, 61 Victoria Parade Pty Ltd, led by Rade Vujic and Aaron Khoo, purchased the site in October, 2020 after the pub closed due to the impacts of Covid-19.

The plans, designed by SAC Building Workshop architects, included a commercial building with an 2389sq m office tower and 229sq m of hotel space with 82sq m of office lobby on the ground floor.

The office building would be set back from the pub and a basement with 18 car parks and 45 bicycle spaces would be added.

There would also be a communal office terrace built on the rooftop and landscaping on the third floor.

The Baden Powell Hotel would be restored to its Victorian-era condition and go by its original name.

The pub originally opened as the New Bendigo Hotel in 1872 and was remodelled in the 1920s to give it an Art Deco façade.

However, the developers expect there might be some pushback to the design which, at 32.6m, was much higher than surrounding developments.

Tribunal decisions for developments in the vicinity were cited in the application, as well as its proximity to the Smith Street major activity centre.

“The site is within an area where intensive development and a mixture of uses are encouraged,” the development application, which has been lodged with the City of Yarra Council, read.

“The Collingwood area is undergoing significant change, with a number of higher-density developments approved and under construction within the immediate area.”