Green Light for Stokes’ $180m Perth Tower

DevelopmentWA has given Kerry Stokes-backed developer Flagship Property Holdings the green light to build a $180-million commercial tower in Perth’s CBD.

The 27-storey commercial tower at 580 Wellington Street will sit within the Perth City Link Precinct urban renewal development—a 13ha site created by the sinking of Mandurah-Clarkson and Perth-Fremantle train lines and the demolition of the old Perth Entertainment Centre.

The Architectus-designed Kings Square 5 tower will provide 64,000sq m of commercial floor space across 20 levels plus three levels of co-working and conference space and 1200sq m of wellness amenities and ​​end-of-trip facilities.

The commercial entry lobby will be accessed from Wellington Street and Telethon Avenue and will offer food and beverage tenancies above a basement car park.

The building will feature photovoltaic panels on the external walls, with an aesthetic similar to that of laminated glass. 

The development marks Flagship’s first project in Western Australia after a run of high-profile commercial, residential, office, retail and mixed-use developments in Melbourne and Adelaide.

The Kings Square precinct, formerly the Perth Entertainment Centre site on Wellington Street, is currently packaged into seven parcels of buildings, each with basement car parks.

▲ DevelopmentWA has approved the 27-storey building proposed for 580 Wellington Street. Image: Architectus

Early stages of the Perth City Link project included station upgrades and new links between Perth station and Perth underground to link the Perth CBD with Northbridge, and a new underground Busport in place of the Wellington Street bus station.

The Perth City Link Precinct will offer about 1650 apartments, 244,000sq m of commercial and retail space, 250 hotel rooms and 350 short-stay apartments, five new vehicle and pedestrian links to Northbridge, the creation of Perth Arena, an underground Busport, Yagan Square and Kings Square.

The Kings Square precinct currently comprises three A-grade office buildings and is surrounded by the city’s entertainment and cultural precincts including the new Perth Arena and Northbridge’s William Street and Perth Cultural Centre.

Major tenants in the precinct include Shell Australia, John Holland Group, HBF and P&N Bank.

Also in the precinct, DevelopmentWA, the state’s land development agency, approved the $695-million Edith Cowan University campus late last year.

Early works across the 8100sq m site have started and the project is scheduled to open in July, 2025.

▲ The ground floor of Kings Square 5 will feature alfresco areas. Image: Architectus

Joint-venture partners Far East Consortium and Cbus Property have a permit for a $100-million commercial development on the corner of King and Roe streets, King Street Campus.

The 14-storey building will deliver 26,000sq m of new office space, 1100 sqm of retail space and three levels of parking.

Far East Consortium’s local arm bought five lots in the area in 2016 and is also developing a $100-million, 263-room Dorsett Hotel and a 32-storey residential tower overlooking Perth Arena with 314 apartments.

The new commercial offerings come as Perth’s office market appears to be in the early stages of a cyclical uplift, boosted by booming commodities markets and strong local economic growth.

While Sydney and Melbourne were the two most active markets in the country, Perth has been rising on investor radars given the record high yield spread between the Western Australian capital and eastern seaboard markets.

According to Cushman and Wakefield, office rents across the Perth CBD have remained steady with improving vacancy rates bolstered by the withdrawal of some stock by landlords looking to refurbish.

Investment activity across the commercial sector is also at record heights, hitting its highest levels since 2013.