BEKL’s Southbank Project Gets Council Nod
Melbourne-based developer BEKL has been given the green light by council to build a triple-segment tower in Southbank.
The tower on 10-16 Dorcas Street will have 2,293sq m of office space, 172 hotel rooms and 36 dwellings as well as conference and recreation facilities.
The 19-storey building with juxtaposed curved facades designed by Plus Architecture was granted a project permit subject to conditions at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting.
Deputy lord mayor Nicholas Reece commended the architects on the design of the site and said this was a genuine mixed-use building which would hopefully attract more families to central Melbourne.
“For urban planning and architecture nerds like me it's certainly a building that is distinctive enough that I will want to go and see it when it is complete,” Reece said.
Reece said many of the objections to the initial proposal—surrounded setbacks, traffic, parking and its impact on the Shrine Environs—were adequately addressed.
“There were some 47 objections that were received for this proposal,” Reece said.
“That is a significant number and it means this development has attracted quite a lot of attraction from councillors and has been very thoroughly reviewed.
“The setbacks that have been arrived at in the final design...after considerable negotiation between the city and the proponents those setbacks are now appropriate given the density of development in this area.”
BEKL submitted the application at the height of the first wave of Covid in Australia with InterContinental Hotels Group to be the operator of the hotel.
The developer will be able to start the Dorcas Street project once it amends its plans, fulfils the conditions and gets these changes approved by the responsible authority.
