V-Leader Selling Lonsdale St Site Slated for $400m Tower

The sell-off of dormant sites by V-Leader continues with the developer putting a key corner site in the Melbourne CBD to market.

The site at 600 Lonsdale Street comes with permit approval and is among $1 billion in assets being offloaded by the developer.

The site was slated for a $400-million, 40-storey tower with offices and a 288-key hotel before it was changed to office only under plans designed by Melbourne-based Fender Katsalidis and Chicago-based architects Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. That plan was approved.

With that approval, the site holds the opportunity to develop up to 40 storeys with more than 45,000sq m of gross floor area. The plans also include a wellness centre, sky lobby and retail spaces.

The site, at the corner of King and Lonsdale streets, is near Flagstaff and Southern Cross rail stations and is connected to the tram network, as well as holding access to Melbourne Airport, the Tullamarine Freeway and the northern corridor.

The site borders the CBD’s legal precinct and is close to the Queen Victoria Markets precinct.

Hoarding has been up around the site for quite some time and much of the early work has been completed, according to Cushman and Wakefield’s Oliver Hay.

Hay will handle the sale with colleagues Daniel Wolman and Leon Ma.

▲ A render of V-Leader's office tower approved for 600 Lonsdale Street.

Price expectations for the site have been set around $65 million, according to industry sources.

The Lonsdale Court building now on the 1900sq m site was built in the 1920s and was once owned by hotel tycoon George Frew.

V-Leader initially paid $48 million to buy out strata owners in May, 2018 and had paid out $52 million when the last owner left a year later.

The initial plans for the tower were estimated to cost $500 million before they were amended and the cost dropped to $400 million.

At the time of amending the plans, V-Leader was banking on workers returning to the office and wanting a hybrid work schedule. 

Another of the developer’s projects—a site at Collingwood it paid about $40 million for in 2018, and holding approval for a $300-million, 11-storey office and hotel project—is also on the block.

The sale of the 4300sq m site is being handled by Stonebridge’s Julian White, Max Warren and Chao Zhang.

The developer told media its South Yarra mixed-use office project on Toorak Road was proceeding, with 80 per cent of space pre-leased and construction under way. V-Leader plans to occupy a floor of the block when it completes next year.