Fortis’ $300m Richmond Office Tower Approved

A developer's office project in Melbourne has been greenlit after a confidential Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal meeting late last year to amend a planning permit

Fortis will now move ahead with its plans for the 12-storey tower in Richmond. 

Developer Little Projects had initially been granted a permit in August ,2021 for a 300-apartment tower on the site at 1 Little Lesney Street and 9 Wiltshire Street, which neighboured another Fortis site at 8 Brighton Street.

Fortis bought the Little Lesney Street site in February 2022 for $16 million and applied to the City of Yarra to change the permit to include land 3 Little Lesney Street and 5 and 7 Wiltshire Street.

The application also included a change in project and use from a 13-storey serviced apartment project to a 12-storey office project with three food and drink tenancies on the ground floor.

Council records show that it failed to make a determination on the application in time.

Fortis then applied to VCAT to amend the planning permit provided to Little Projects.  

A compulsory conference was scheduled for November 28, 2022 with further hearing dates set for February 2023.

The permit and associated conditions were amended at the November meeting, negating the need for any further hearings.

▲ A render of the tower planned for 8 Brighton Street in Richmond.

The council then issued a permit on January 12, 2023, handing Fortis  around $300 million in end value in project approvals in Richmond. 

Fortis plans to create a mixed-use precinct across the 15 blocks including the site at 8 Brighton Street and the new lots added to the former Little Projects.

The developer will now use 5 Wiltshire Street as the new address for that site and Pallas Capital will fund both projects. SJB Architects will design the plans for both projects.

A pedestrian-focused food and drink boulevard is planned for Wiltshire Street along with plans to open up and connect Little Lesney Street to Brighton Street.

Fortis bought the 1298sq m Brighton Street site for $19 million.

It will have a 13-storey mixed-use tower with ground floor retail, two podium levels with 2500sq m of commercial NLA, 55 apartments over the remaining nine storeys and three basement levels of car parking. 

Plans for the Brighton Street site were filed in August, 2021.

The entire acquisition cost for all nine lots in the 1432sq m Wiltshire Street site was around $33 million, according to Fortis.

Plans for the site include the 11 levels of office space holding 11,000sq m of NLA and three basement parking levels as well as end-of-trip facilities, a rooftop barbecue area, bar, wellness areas and tenant-only communal social spaces and workspaces.

Around 1500 workers and more than 150 residents are expected to use the precinct once completed—construction is scheduled to begin this year for both projects.

Fortis is the property development arm of Pallas Group and has about $5 billion in projects in construction or being assessed across Australia.